see Christ from the Cross casting forth a threefold cord which is not easily broken to draw the Hearts of sinners to him Fourthly to Conclude What mighty Demonstrations of the desires of his Heart towards us did our Redeemer give at and since his Ascension into Heaven As the whole Life of Christ upon Earth was a perswasive Argument to draw sinners to him so his Ascension to Heaven hath many things in it which are mighty attractives to the Hearts of Men. I will only mention two 1. The gifts he bestowed at his Ascension 2. The ends and designs of his Ascension 1. The gifts he bestowed on Men at his Ascension for this very end and purpose whereof the Psalmist gives this account Psal. 68. 18. Thou hast ascended on high thou hast received gifts for Men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them He alludes to the Roman Conquerors who in the day of their triumph did Spargere missilia scatter their largesses among the people Thus Christ at his Ascension shed forth the gifts of the Spirit in various kinds qualifying Men for the Work of the Ministry to enable them to plead with your Souls and carry on his suit when he should be in Heaven These gifts were extraordinary in the first Age as the gift of Tongues and Miracles c. and ordinary to continue to the end of the World Eph. 4. 8 9. To some he gives depth of Learning and Judgment to others a mighty Pathos a melting influence upon the Affections but all designed to win over your Hearts to Christ. This shews what care he took and what provision he answerably made for the success of his great design to draw the Hearts of sinners to him 2ly The ends of his Ascension as they are declared in Scripture plainly speak the vehemency of Christs desire to draw Souls to him Now the declared ends of his Ascension were 1 to make way for the Spirits coming to Convince Convert and Comfort the Souls of all that come unto him Iohn 16. 7. Nevertheless I tell yon the truth It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come to you but if I depart I will send him unto you And when he is come he will reprove the World of sin and of righteousness and of judgment Without the Conviction of these things no Man can come to Christ and no such Convictions can be wrought upon the Conscience of any Man without the Spirit and the Spirit could not come to effect these things upon Mens Hearts if Christ had not ascended Iohn 7. 39. But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified Thus Christ provided for the carrying on of his great design upon your Hearts when he was entring into his own Glory The thoughts of that Glory made him not to forget his great design upon Earth 2 Another end of Christs Ascension was to make Intercession with the Father for all and every Soul that should come unto him that their future sins might make no breach of the bond of the Covenant betwixt God and them A Privilege able to draw the Hearts of all sinners to him 1 Iohn 2. 1 2. My little Children these things write I unto you that ye sin not Mark it the intercession of Christ must incourage and embolden no Man to sin that would be a vile abuse of the Grace of God. But if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins i. e. If sin surprize and deceive any gracious Soul the bent of whose Heart is against it let him not be discouraged he hath a potent Advocate ascended into the Heavens to continue the peace betwixt God and that Soul. O what an encouragement is here to gain the consent of a sinners Heart to embrace Jesus Christ 3 Another declared end of Christs Ascension was to lead captivity captive as in the forecited place Psal. 68. 17. that is to captivate and triumph over Satan as a conquered Enemy who led us captive in the days of our vanity He conquered Satan upon the Cross Col. 2. 15. but he triumphed over him at his Ascension And without such a conquest and triumph no Soul could come to Christ. 4 In a word Christ ascended into Heaven to prepare Mansions of rest and glory for every Soul that should embrace him in the way of repentance and faith in this World Iohn 14. 2 In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you q. d. It satisfies me not to enjoy my glory in Heaven alone all that come unto me by Faith shall be with me where I am let them know for their encouragement that the glory which God hath given me I have given them Iohn 17. 22. All these things loudly speak the fervent desires of Christs Soul after union and communion with poor Sinners which was the thing to be demonstrated 2ly Having proved the Point that Christ is an earnest Suiter for union and communion with the Souls of sinners we next come to shew the marvellous and admirable Grace and Condecension of Christ that it should be so And this will appear five ways to the astonishment of every considering Soul. 1. Though Christ be thus intent and earnest in his suit for your consent yet he gaineth nothing by you when you do consent the gain is to your selves but not to him He is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. above all accessions from the Creature What doth the Sun gain by enlightning and animating the lower World Or what doth a Fountain gain when Men drink and are refreshed by its Waters If any Soul that heareth me this day should presently resolve henceforth to break asunder all the tyes and engagements betwixt him and sin to subscribe the Articles of the Gospel to give away himself Soul and Body to Christ to live henceforth as an hallowed dedicated Creature to the Lord Jesus this indeed would turn to the infinite and everlasting advantage of such a Soul but yet Christ cannot be profited thereby 2ly And that which still encreaseth the wonder is this that though Christ makes no gain or profit by our Conversion yet hath he impoverished himself to gain such unprofitable Creatures as we are to him He hath made himself poor to make us rich so speaks the Apostle in 2 Cor. 8. 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich He expends his riches makes no advantage unto himself his incarnation impoverished his reputation Phil. 2. 7. How poor was Christ when he said Psal. 22. 6. But I am a worm and no man a
gracious Heart that God should smite so near and yet spare you Lastly This is affecting yea very transporting that God hath not only given you time beyond others but in that time the precious opportunities and means of your Salvation both external and internal there 's the very marrow and kernel of the Mercy had God lengthned out his Patience for a while but given you no means of Salvation or afforded you the means but denied you the blessing and efficacy of them at the most it could have been but a reprieve from Hell but for the Lord to give you the Gospel and with the Gospel to send down his Spirit to perswade and open thy Heart to Christ here is the riches of his goodness as well as forbearance III. Exhortation This Doctrine of the Patience of Christ exhorts all that have felt it to exercise a Christ-like Patience towards others as you have found the benefit of Divine Patience your selves see that you exercise the meekness and long-suffering of Christians towards those that have wronged and injured you Who should shew Patience more than those that have found it Dont be severe short and quick with others who have lived your selves so many years upon the long-suffering of God. We are poor short-spirited Creatures quick to revenge injuries but oh had God been so to us miserable had our condition been Christ hath made this duty the very scope of that excellent parable Matth. 18. from the 25 verse onward where the King takes an account of his Servants reckoning with them one by one and amongst them finds one which owed him Ten thousand Talents and having not to pay commands him his Wife and Children and all he had to be sold and payment to be made but the Servant falling down and begging Patience his Lord was moved with compassion and loosed him and not only forbore but forgave the debt one would think the Heart of this Man should have been a fountain of compassion towards others but see the deep corruption of Nature the same Servant finding one of his fellow-servants which owed him but an Hundred pence laid Hands on him and took him by the Throat Alas the wrongs done to us are but trifâ—les compared with our injuries done to God where others have wronged you once you have wronged God a thousand times Methinks the Patience of Christ towards you should melt your Hearts into an ingenuous easiness to forgive others especially considering that an unforgiving Spirit is a dreadful sign of an unforgiven person IV. Exhortation Burden not the Patience of Christ after your admission of him and reconciliation to him let it suffice that you tried his Patience long enough before give him no new exercises now he is come to dwell in and with you for ever There be two ways wherein God 's own People do greatly provoke him after their Reconciliation 1. By slugishness to Duty 2. By sinning against Light. 1. By slugishness and deadness of Spirit in the ways of Duty and Obedience turning a deaf ear to the calls and motions of Christ's Spirit exciting them to the sweet and pleasant Duties of Religion We have a sad instance of this in the Spouse Cant. 5. 2 3. It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying Open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my Vndefiled for my Head is filled with dew and my Locks with the drops of the night One would think that Christ might have opened the Heart of his own Spouse with less solicitation and importunate Arguments than he here useth what Wife could shut the door upon her own dear Husband and bar him out of his own house And yet see the lazy excuse she makes vers 3. I have put off my coat how shall I put it on I have washed my Feet how shall I defile them Oh the slugishness of Flesh even in Regenerate persons Those that have opened the door to Christ by Regeneration even they do often shut the door against Christ in the hours and seasons of Communion with him Strange that such a suiter as Christ should be put by moving and calling to such heavenly pleasant exercises as Communion with him is but flesh will be flesh even in the most Spiritual Christians little do we know what a grief this is to Christ and loss to us 2ly Many grieve Christ's Spirit and sorely try his Patience even after Reconciliation by sinning against Light and Love that caution Ephes. 4. 30. is not without weighty cause and grieve not the holy Spirit of God by which you are sealed to the day of Redemption Do we thus requite the Lord is this the return we will make him for all his admirable kindness and unparallel'd Love towards us Certainly Christ can put up a thousand injuries from his Enemies easier than such affronts from his own People did you not promise him better obedience Did you not engage to more holiness and watchfulness in the day that you sued out your pardon and made up your peace with him Are all those Vows and Covenants forgotten If you have forgotten them God hath not V. Exhortation Improve the time that remains in this World with double diligence because you made Christ wait so long and cast a way so great a part of your life before you opened your Hearts to re-receive him The morning of your life which was certainly the freshest and freest part of it was no better than time lost with many of us all the days of your unregeneracy Christ was shut out and vanity shut into your Hearts You never began to live till Christ gave you life and that was late in the day with many of you How should this provoke to extraordinary diligence in those few remains of time we have yet to enjoy It was Austin's lamentation O Lord it repents me saith he that I loved thee so late This consideration excited Paul to extraordinary diligence for Christ. It made him fly up and down the World as a Seraphim in a flame of holy zeal for Christ. Those that have much to write and are almost come to the end of their paper had need write close Friends you have something to do for God upon Earth which you cannot do for him in Heaven Isa. 38. 18 19. You that have carnal Relations have something to do for them here which you cannot do in Heaven You can now Counsel Exhort and Pray in order to their Conversion and Salvation but when you are gone down to the Grave these opportunities of service are cut off VI. Exhortation Let us all be ashamed and humbled for the baseness of our Hearts and Natures which made Christ wait at the door so long before we opened to him O what wretched Hearts have we That were no more affected with the groans of Christ's Heart than with the groans of a Beast no nor so much neither if that Beast were our own Oh the vileness of Nature to make the Prince of the King 's of
to Christ on Earth so it is capable of glory with Christ in Heaven throughout eternity Iohn 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me It hath a natural capacity of enjoying eternal Blessedness which the Souls of other Creatures have not And this will be the aggravation of Hell torments that Men capable of the highest happiness should as it were receive that capacity in vain but that which constitutes an actual right to the everlasting enjoyment of Christ in glory is the Souls espousals to him here in the way of Grace Upon these two accounts it is that Christ puts such a price upon them Courts their love so passionately laments their loss so pathetically and encourages his Ministers to all diligence in perswading and woing them for him with such abundant rewards Dan. 12. 3. Know then your own worth and dignity neither pawn nor sell so precious a thing as thy Soul for any thing Satan can set before thee by way of exchange for it What shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul IV. Inference Is Christ such an earnest Suiter for union with sinners then certainly they are the enemies of Christ and the Souls of Men that any way endeavour to hinder or break off the match betwixt Christ and them Some there are that labour to create jealousies and beget distastes and prejudices in the Souls of Men against Christ and his ways Men that bring up an evil report upon Christ and strict Religion as that which will begger them and expose them to all the miseries of the World Who instigated by Satan whisper such stories into the Souls Ear whom Christ is woing for himself that the severity of Religion will certainly extinguish all their joys and pleasures they shall never laugh more never be merry more Beside it will expose all their comforts upon Earth to hazard their Estates and Lives must fall a prey to their Enemies and this is the Estate which Christ will Jointer them if they consent to his terms And that this is no groundless jealousie of their own but that Christ himself hath openly declared as much That he that will come after him must hate Father and Mother Wife and Children yea and his own Life also This is what they must expect as the fruit of their consent to Christs proposals But O what will these Men have to answer and how will they stand before Christ another day who are such professed enemies to his Cross and set themselves so directly in opposition to the great design Christ is driving on in the World Is it not enough that you will not enter your selves but you will hinder them that would Matth. 23. 13. Thus carnal Parents discourage their Children one Relation another But to help Souls under this discouragement I will leave only this one Caveat with them That such seeming Friends are their real mortal Enemies their Words are poison to your Souls Satan hath feed them to do his Work hired their Tongues for his Service But if the serious cares of Salvation and servent love of Christ be in thy Heart thou wilt resolve as Ierom did If my Father who beg at me and my Mother who bare me should hang-about my Neck with tears and entreaties to keep me from Christ I would fling off my Father and tread upon my Mother that bear me to go to Christ. To this Head also belong all those scandals and offences which loose and careless Professors cast in the way to discourage others from coming unto Christ Wo to the World saith Christ because of offences Matth. 18. 7. Wo to the World this will be their ruin and undoing by this means such prejudices will be begotten in their Souls against Christ and Religion as they will never be able to free themselves from But wo to them by by whom such offence cometh it were better a milstone were hanged about their Necks and they cast into the bottom of the Sea. Christians look carefully to your Conversations for besides the evil effects of sin upon your selves you see the mischievous effects of it upon others and thus we may sense those words Cant. 2. 7. I charge you O ye Daughters of Jerusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please Roes and Hinds are timerous Creatures the least crack of a stick will startle and fright them away such are comers on toward Christ young beginners in the ways of Religion how small a matter may damp and discourage them O friends you have sins enough of your own bring not the sin and ruin of other Men upon your account also V. Inference To Conclude How great is the blindness and ignorance of sinners that need so much entreaty and importunity to be made happy 'T is your ignorance sinners that makes all the Gospel importunity necessary did you know your own misery and see Christ in his necessity suitableness and excellency all these perswasions might be spared nay you your selves would become importunate Suiters for Christ you would not need to be twice offered there is a Conscience in every Man and Woman set there on purpose by the Lord to give them an Allarm but the Allarm goes not off for want of a spring to wiâ— the knowledge of our sin and misery Ah Soul didst thou but know who it is that Suits for thy love what the benefits of union with Christ are thou wouldst answer his first call in such Language as this Lord Jesus write down thine own terms be they what they will I am ready to subscribe them with the fullest consent of Heart and Will and then how soon would the match be made betwixt Christ and you Yea you would watch for and hang on half a word of encouragement from Christs Mouth as Benhadads Servants did on that word of Ahab my brother Benhadad 1 Kings 20. 32 33. There is no need of Rhetorick to perswade a condemned Malefactor to accept his pardon an hungry Man to sit down at a full Table but alas sin is not felt Christ is not known therefore the one is not bewailed nor the other desired II. Vse In the next place the Point naturally leads us to a Use of Exhortation to perswade sinners to embrace Christs motion subscribe his terms and huckle no more with him but end the treaty in a cordial present consent and so close up the match betwixt him and your own Souls how long sinner wilt thou be at shall I shall I And thy Will hang undetermined betwixt Christ and sin Bivious and unresolved in so great and deep a concernment O that Christs next overture might bring the matter to an Issue why will you trifle and dally with him at this rate There is indeed a Treaty on foot betwixt Christ and you but you may perish for all that there 's
most satisfying of all Come on poor trembling Soul dont be discouraged stretch out the small weak Arms of thy Faith to that great and gracious Redeemer open thy Heart wide to receive him he will not refuse to come in he hath sealed thousands of pardons to as vile Wretches as thy self he never yet shut the door of Mercy upon a willing hungering Soul. It is a great matter to have the Way beaten and the Ice broken before thee in thy way to Christ. If thou wert the first sinner that had cast his Soul upon Christ I confess I should want this encouragement I am now giving thee but when so many have gone before thee and all found a welcom beyond their expectation What incouragement doth this breath into thy trembling discouraged Heart to go on and venture thy self upon Christ as they did what an Example have we in Manasseh 2 Chron. 33. from vers 3. to 12. An Idolater one that used Enchantments and Divinations familiar Spirits shed innocent Blood in the Streets of Ierusalem a Man might rake the World and hardly bring â—o sight a viler Wretch a greater Monster in sin and wickedness yet his Heart being broken and his Will bowed this Man found Mercy How great a sinner was Mary that came to Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee Luke 7. 39. So notorious a sinner that Simon took offence at Christ for suffering so vile Wretch to come into his presence If this Man were a Prophet saith he he would have known who and what manner of Woman this is that toucheth him for she is a sinner Yet Maries Heart being broken for sin and made willing to accept of a Saviour what a gracious demonstration of welcom did Christ give her and to all other sinners a singular encouragement in her Example Once more you have an eminent Example of the abundant welcom of another sinner to Christ who owned himself for the greatest of Sinners a Persecuter a Blasphemer Injurious but saith he I obtained Mercy 1 Tim. 1. 16. And the Example of his gracious Entertainment with Christ is recorded on purpose for an encouragement unto all that should hereafter believe How many thousands are there now in Hell that never stood guilty of greater enormeties than the Corinthians did Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners such were some of them yet Sanctified Washed Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. If ever Christ would have shut the door of Mercy upon any if ever he would have been coy and shy of coming into any Souls certainly these were the Souls he would have disdained to come near O what a demonstration is here of that comfortable Point before us That Christ will not refuse to come into the Soul of the vilest Sinner when ones it is made Heartily willing to open to him IV. Evidence A further Evidence of this comfortable Truth shall be taken from the Scripture resemblances of the abundant Grace of God and riches of Mercy in Christ towards all broken Hearted and willing Sinners There are some chosen resemblances and excellent Emblems which bring down the Grace of God before the very Eyes of Men amongst which I will single out three glorious Resemblances of Free Grace chosen by his Wisdom on purpose for the incouragement of poor drooping Sinners A Resemblance from the Heavens a Resemblance from the Sun and a Resemblance from the Sea all such as the Wisdom of Men and Angels could never have chosen for such a purpose as this is I. A Resemblance from the Heavens those vast extended Heavens that cover and compass this Earth what an inconsiderable spot is the whole Terrestrial Globe to those high and all-surrounding Heavens and yet these Heavens are not at so vast a distance above the Earth as the pardoning Grace of God is above the guilt yea and the very thoughts of poor Sinners For of the pardoning Grace of God to penitent and willing Souls that precious Scripture speaks Isa. 55. 8 9. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon O saith the Soul I cannot think God will ever have Mercy on such a Wretch as I why saith he vers 8. My thoughts are not your thoughts and 't is well they are not but as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts You cannot take the height nor sound the depth of my pardoning Grace That 's one Emblem from the unconceivable height of the Heavens above the Earth II. Another is taken from the Sun in the Heavens a Creature of admirable Power and Vertue you know that anon this part of the World will be the Throne of Darkness the Sable curtains of the Night will be spread over all the beauties of this part of the Earth and it may be in the Morning a thick Fog or Mist will cover it thick and dark Clouds may darken the Heavens but behold this glorious Creature the Sun chasing before him the darkness of the Night breaking up the Mists and Fogs of the Morning scattering the dark and thick Clouds of Heaven they are all gone and there is no appearance of them Just so saith God shall it be with thy sins and thy Cloudy fears arising out of sin Isa. 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy transgressions and as a Cloud thy sins Thy Soul is beclouded thy fears have bemisted thee so that thou canst not see the grounds of thine encouragement but my Grace shall arise upon thee like the Sun in the Heavens and scatter all these dismal Clouds both of guilt and fear and make a clear Heaven over thee and a clear Soul within thee Vnto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. III. Another Resemblance you have from the Sea the great Abyss that vast Congregation of Waters whose depth no line can fadom Veer out as much Line as you will you cannot touch the bottom To this unfathomable Ocean the pardoning Grace of God is also resembled Mich. 7. 18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea. If the loftiest Pyramid or highest Mountain were cast into the depth of the Sea it would never be seen more by the Eyes of Men. God hath on purpose chosen this Emblem of his Grace to obviate that common discouragement of Satan taken from the greatness and aggravation of sin and in that case thou art to make use of them and bless the Lord for them he
Christ unto greater chearfulness in the paths of obedience to Christ. This is another end for which God communicates them that our Souls being refreshed by them we might pluck up our feet the more nimbly in the paths of duty Psal. 119. 32. Then will I run the ways of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Now God expects that you pray more frequently meditate more delightfully and perform every duty more cheerfully And this is the way to perpetuate your comforts How many Christians go on droopingly in the ways of duty for want of those encouragements you enjoy SERMON XI Revel 3. 20. I will sup with him and he with me WE have heard the first encouragement or argument of Christ to perswade the Hearts of Sinners to open to him viz. That he will come in to them and that not empty handed He will also Sup with them and to make the encouragement compleat and full he here adds And he with me This last clause sets forth that Spiritual-soul-refreshing-communion which is betwixt Christ and believers begun in this World compleated and perfected in the World to come Hence our tenth Observation is XI DOCT. That there is a mutual sweet and intimate communion betwixt Iesus Christ and believers in this World. Communion with Christ is frequent in the lips of many men but an hidden mystery to the Souls of most men This Atheistical age scoffs and ridicules it as Enthusiasm and Fanaticism but the Saints find that reality and incomparable sweetness in it that they would not part with it for Ten thousand Worlds When the Roman Soldiers entred the Temple at Ierusalem and found no Image there as they used to have in their own Idolatrous Temples they gave out in a Jeer that the Jews worshiped the Clouds Thus prophane Atheists scoff at the most solemn awful and sweetest part of internal Religion as a meer fancy but the thing is real sure and sensible if there be truth in any thing in the World there is truth in this That there are real intercourses betwixt the visible and invisible World betwixt Christ and the Souls of believers which we here call communion 1 Iohn 1. 3. Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Christ Iesus 'T is really and truly so we impose not upon the World we tell you no more than we have felt The life of Enoch is call'd his walking with God Gen. 5. 24. O sweet and pleasant walk All pleasures all joys are in that walk with God. Blessed are the people that hear the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance Psal. 89. 15. The joyful sound there spoken of was the sound of the trumpet which called the people to the solemn Assemblies where they walked in the light of Gods countenance the sweet manifestations of his favour and because the World is so apt to suspect the reality and certainty of this Doctrin the Apostle again asserts it Phil. 3. 20. Truly our conversation is in Heaven We breath below but we live above we walk on Earth but our conversation is in Heaven To open this Point three things must come under consideration 1. What Communion with Christ is 2. That there is such a Communion betwixt him and believers 3. The excellency of this Communion First What Communion with Christ is in the general nature of it To open this it must be considered that there is a twofold Communion 1. A state of Communion 2. Actual Communion The first is fundamental to the second we can have no actual Communion with the Father Son or Spirit till we be first brought into a state of Communion This state of Communion is in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fellowship or partnership with Christ. Such a Fellowship as Merchants have in one and the same Ship and Cargo where one hath more and another less but however a joint though unequal interest one lives in one Kingdom another in another Kingdom but they are joyntly interested in the same Goods This comparison must not be stretcht beyond its intention which is to shew nothing but this that Christ and believers are co-partners or co-heirs in the same inheritance hence they are called Psal. 45. 7. his fellows God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows and again Rom. 8. 17. If children then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Christ states his people gives then a right and title not only to himself but to those good things purchased by him yea and the very glory he now enjoys in Heaven Iohn 17. 22. The glory which thou gavest me I have given them 'T is true there are some things in Christ which are peculiar to himself and incommunicable to any creature as his eternity consubstantiality with his Father c. neither have we fellowship in his mediatorial Works we have the fruits and benefits of them but no partnership with him in the glory and honour of them that is peculiarly his own and though it be said in the Scriptures that believers are righteous as he is righteous yet the meaning is not that they can Justifie others as Christ doth no they are Justified by him but cannot communicate righteousness to others as Christ doth to them But there are other things wherein there is a partnership betwixt Christ and his people among others they partake with him in the Spirit of Sanctification on Earth and glory in Heaven The same Spirit of holiness which dwells in Christ without measure is communicated by him to the Saints in measure 1 Iohn 4. 13. He hath given us of his Spirit And as Christ communicates his Spirit to the Saints so he communicates the glory of Heaven to them not that they shall be as glorious in Heaven as Christ is no no he will be known among the Saints in glory as the Sun is known from the lesser Stars Thus briefly of the state of communion which is called in Scripture our being made nigh Eph. 2. 13. and indeed we must be made nigh before we can actually draw nigh We must be put into a state of fellowship before ever we can have actual communion with God. Secondly Beside this state of Communion there is also an actual Communion which the Saints have in this World with the Father and Son in the duties of Religion This is that I am here ingaged to open This is our supping with Christ and his with us and for clearness sake I shall open it both 1. Negatively What it is not 2. Positively What it is I. Negatively What it is not for I find persons are hugely apt to mistake in this matter taking that for Communion with God which is not so and here let it be noted First That Communion with God doth not consist in the bare performance of Religious duties I do not say that Men may have Communion with God in this World without duties 't is a delusion
â—ffigies of Iohn Flavell Aetatis suoe 59 AnÌ„o Dom 1689. Englands Duty Under the Present GOSPEL LIBERTY FROM Revel III. vers 20. Wherein is Opened The Admirable Condescension and Patience of Christ in waiting upon trifling and obstinate Sinners The wretched State of the Vnconverted The nature of Evangelical Faith with the Difficulties Tryals and Means thereof The Riches of Free-grace in the offers of Christ Pardon and Peace to the worst of Sinners The invaluable Priviledges of Vnion and Communion granted to all that receive him and the great Duty of opening to him at the present Knocks and Calls of the Gospel with the danger of neglecting these Loud and it may be last Knocks and Calls of Christ discovered By Iohn Flavell Preacher of the Gospel at Dartmouth in Devon. Rom. II. 4. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance London Printed for Matthew Wotton at the Three Daggers near the Inner-Temple Gate in Fleetstreet 1689. Licensed Septemb. 29 th 1688. AN EPISTLE TO THE READER Candid Reader THE following Discourse comes to thy hand in that Native plainness wherein it was Preached I was conscienciously unwilling to alter it because I found by experience the Lord had blessed and prosper'd it in that dress far beyond any other composures on which I had bestowed more pains Let it not be censured as vanity or ostentation that I here acknowledge the goodness of God in leading me to and blessing my poor Labours upon this Subject Who and what am I that I should be continued and again employed in the Lords Harvest and that with success and encouragment when so many of my Brethren with their much richer Furnitures of Gifts and Graces have in my time been called out of the Vineyard and are now silent in the Grave 'T is true they enjoy what I do not and 't is as true I am capable of doing some Services for God which they are not In Preaching these Sermons I had many occasions to reflect upon the mystical sense of that Scripture Amos 9. 13. The Plow-man shall overtake the Reaper and the Treader of Grapes him that soweth Seed Sowing and Reaping time trod so close upon one another that in all humility I speak it to the praise of God it was the busiest and blessedst time I ever saw since I first Preached the Gospel England hath now a day of special Mercy There is a wide door of opportunity opened to it O that it might prove an effectual door 'T is transporting and astonishing that after all the high and horrid provocations the Atheism Prophaness and bitter enmity against Light and Reâ—ormation this sweet Voice is still heard in England Behold I stand at the door and knock The Mercies and Liberties of this day are a new Tryal obtained for us by our potent Advocate in the Heavens If we bring forth fruit well if not the Ax lieth at the root of the Tree Let us not be secure Jerusalem was the City of the great King The seat of his Worship and Symbols of his presence were fixed there It was the joy of the whole Earth the House of Prayer for all Nations thither the Tribes went up to Worship the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel For there were set Thrones of Iudgment the Thrones of the House of David Psal. 122. 4 5. These priviledges she enjoyed through the succession of many Ages and had ramained the glory of all Nations to this day had she known and improved in that day the things that belonged to her peace but they neglected their season rejected their mercies and miserably perished in their sins for there ever was and will be found an inseparable connection betwixt the final rejection of Christ and the destruction of the Rejecters Matth. 22. 5 6 7. The contemplation whereof drew those compassionate Tears from the Redeemers eyes when he beheld it in his descent from the Mount of Olives Luke 19. 41 42. Let all that are wise in Heart henceforth depose their animosities sadly reflect on their past follies encourage and assist the Labours of their Brethren in the Lords Harvest and rejoyce that God hath set them at liberty by Law whose assistance in so great an opportunity is so necessary and desirable It is against the Laws of Wisdom and Charity to envy the Liberty and much more the Success of our Brethren 1 Cor. 13. 4. If the Workmen contend and scuffle in a catching Harvest who but the owner suffers damage by it If after so miraculous recent and common a Salvation as this we still retain our old prejudices and bitter envyings if we smite with the Pen and Tongue when we cannot with the Hand and study to blast the Reputations and Labours of our Brethren and still hate those we cannot hurt In a word if we still bite and devour one another we shall be devoured one of another let us not lay the fault upon others we our selves have been the Authors and Instruments of our own ruin and this must be the inscription upon our Toomb-stone O England thou hast Destroyed thy Self I am more afraid of the rooted enmity and fixed prejudices that are to be found in many against holiness and the serious Professors of it and inflexible obstinacy and dead formality in many others the tokens of a tremendous infatuation than I am of all the whispered fears from other Hands or common Enemies upon our borders To prevent these mischiefs and promote zeal and unanimity among the Ministers of the Gospel I have presumed to address to them in the following Epistle I judged it necessary on several reasons to write it in Latin as what allowed me a greater freedom of expression than might seem convenient in the common Language I am conscious of my own unworthiness to be their Monitor and of the defects their Iudicious Eyes will easily discern in the style wherein it is written and yet can promise my self a becoming reception of what is so faithfully seasonably and honestly designed for their good I am satisfied that no candid and ingenuous Person will put Words upon the Rack quarrel a Similitude or expose a Trifle when he finds the design Honest and the matter Good and Necessary As to the Treatise it self thou wilt find it a Persuasive to open thy Heart to Christ. Thy Soul Reader is a magnificent Structure built by Christ such stately Rooms as thy Vnderstanding Will Conscience and Affections are too good for any other to Inhabit If thou be in thy Vnregenerate state then he solemnly demands in this Text admission into the Soul he made by the consent of the Will which if thou refuse to give him then Witness is taken that Christ once more demanded entrance into thy Soul which he made and was denied it If thou hast opened thy Heart to him thou wilt I hope meet somewhat in this Treatise that will clear thy
the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. 2. INFER What a spur is here to Ministerial diligence and faithfulness 'T is an awful work that is under our hands the effects of the Gospel which we preach will be the savour of life or Death to them that hear us If the Lord prosper it in our hands we shall be witnesses for you it will be an addition to our glory in Heaven Dan. 12. 3. They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever But if we be Ignorant Lazy Men-pleasers our people will come in as swift Witnesses against us and their blood will be required at our hands it will be an intollerable aggravation to our misery in Hell to have any that sat under our Ministry thus upbraiding us O cruel man thou sawest my soul in danger and never dealt faithfully and plainly with me the same time and breath which was spent in idle and worldly discourse might have been instrumental to have sav'd me from this place of torment Let Ministers consider themselves as Witnesses for God and their People as Witnesses for or against them and under that consideration so study preach and pray that they may with Paul take God to record that they are free from the blood of all men no sort of men upon earth have more spurs to diligence and faithfulness than we have 3. INFER What a Pill is this to purge formality out of all that hear us every Sabbath every Sermon is recorded in Heaven for or against your souls at what rate soever you attend to the word all that you hear is set down in the book of your account think not you shall return as you came the word will have its effect and end it shall not return in vain but shall accomplish the end for which it is sent Isaiah 55. 11. The decrees of Heaven are executed by the Gospel some souls shall be quickened and others shall be slain by the words of Gods mouth Ezek. 47. 9 10. The Gospel is a River of the waters of Life which quickens and refreshes every thing that lives but the myre and marish places shall not be healed How weighty therefore is that caution of our blessed Lord Luke 8. 18. Take heed how you hear When you come under an ordinance you are sowing seed for Eternity Gal. 6. 7 8. Which will spring up in the world to come Preaching and hearing may be considered two ways Physically or Morally in the former respect these acts are quickly over and pass away I shall by and by have done preaching and you hearing this Sermon will be ended in a little time but the consequences thereof will abide for ever Therefore for the Lords sake away with formality no more drowsie eyes or wandering thoughts Oh when you come to attend upon the Ministry of the Gospel that such thoughts as these might prepare your minds The word I am going to hear will quicken or kill save or damn my soul if I sit dead under it and return barren from it I shall with one day that I had never seen the face of that Minister nor heard his voice that preached it 4. INFER What a dreadful condition are all those in that are real and professed Enemies to the Gospel and them that preach it That instead of embracing and obeying the message of the Gospel reject and despise it instead of opening their hearts to receive it open their blasphemous mouths against it to deride it and hiss it if it were possible out of the world Ah what a book of remembrance is written for such men I fear there never was an age since Christianity blessed this Nation that was more deeply drench'd in the guilt of this sin than the present age How are the Messengers of the Gospel slighted and rejected What have we done to deserve it Is not our case this day much like that of the Prophet Ier. 18. 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good for they have digged a Pit for my Soul remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them What bruitish madness hath possest the souls of these men but alas it is not so much they as Satan acting in them he is a jealous Prince the Gospel allarms him his Subjects are in danger of revolting from him No wonder therefore he makes an out-cry at the liberty of the Gospel as is used to be made when an Enemy invades a Kingdom In this case Christ directs his Ministers to shake off the dust of their feet for a testimony against them Mark 6. 11. The signification and meaning whereof is this that look as you shake off the dust of your feet even so Jesus Christ will shake off those men that despise the Gospel and abuse its Messengers 5. INFER Hence it likewise follows that the case of the Pagan world will be easier in the day of Iudgment than theirs that live and dye unregenerate and disobedient under the Gospel of Christ. There are more Witnesses prepared and Records filed against the day of your account than can possibly be against them they have abused but one talent the light of nature but we thousands even as many thousands as we have had opportunities and calls under the Gospel Upon this account Christ saith Matth. 10. 14 15. Whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words shake off the dust of your feet Verily I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgment than for that City Ah what a fearful Aggravation doth it put upon our sin and misery that we are not only accountable for all the light we had but for all that we might have had in the Gospel day Capernaum was lifted up to Heaven in the enjoyment of means and precious opportunities and had an answerable downfall into the depth of misery from that height of mercy as the higher any one is lifted up upon a Rack the more terrible is the jerk he receives by the fall Matth. 11. 23. 6. INFER Lastly hence it appears that the day of Iudgment must certainly take up a vast space of time For if God will bring every thing into Judgment Eccles. 12. 14. not only sinful actions but words Matth. 12. 36. not only words but heart secrets Rom. 2. 16. If all the Records and Registers now made shall then be opened and read all the Witnesses for or against every man examined and heard judge then what a vast space of time will that great day take up Some Divines are of opinion it may last as long as the World hath lasted but this is sure things will not be hudled up nor shuffled over in haste you have taken your time for Sinning and God will take his time for Judging Consider the multitudes multitudes without number that are to be Judged in that day even all the posterity of
solemn Amen So be it or So it shall be To open this Point distinctly we are to consider that there is a threefold presence of Christ 1. Corporeal 2. Represented 3. Spiritual First There is a Corporeal Presence of Christ which the Church once enjoyed on Earth when he went in and out amongst his People Acts 1. 21. When their Eyes saw him and their Hands handled him 1 Iohn 1. 1. This presence was a singular consolation to the Disciples and therefore they were greatly dejected when it was to be removed from them But after Redemption-Work was finished on Earth this Bodily Presence was no longer necessary to be continued in this World but more expedient to be removed to Heaven Iohn 16. 7. as indeed it was and must there abide until the time of the restitution of all things Acts 3. 21. And in this respect he tells the Disciples Iohn 16. 28. leave the World and go to my Father Secondly There is a Represented Presence of Christ in Ordinances As the Person of a King is represented in another Country by his Ambassadors so is Christ in this World by his Ministers 2 cor 5. 26. We then are Ambassadors for God as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God. Christ is about other work for us in Heaven but we stand in his stead on Earth And this speaks the great Dignity of the Ministerial Office whatever abuses or contempts are cast on them they reflect upon Christ Luke 10. 16. He that despiseth you despiseth me It also teacheth us whence the validity of Gospel administrations is Christ ratifies and confirms them with his own Authority It also instructs us how Wise Spiritual and Holy Ministers should be who represent Christ to the Word A Drunkard a Persecutor a sensual Worldling is but an ill representative of the blessed and holy Jesus Thirdly Beside and above the two former there is a Spiritual Presence of Christ in the Churches and Ordinances and this Presence of Christ by his Spirit who is his Vicegerent is to be considered as that from which all Gospel Ordinances derive 1. Their Beauty and Glory 2. Their Power and Efficacy 3. Their awful Solemnity 4. Their Continuance and Stability First From the presence of Christ by his Spirit the Ordinances and Churches derive their beauty and glory Psal. 27. 4. To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Look as the beauty of the Body is a result from the Soul that animates it and when the Soul is gone the beauty of the Body is gone also so the beauty and glory of all Ordinances comes and goes with the Spirit of Christ which is the very Soul of them The Churches are indeed golden Candlesticks but the Candlestick hath no light but what the Candle gives it hence that magnificent description of the new Temple is closed up in this expression Ezek. 48. ult The name of that City shall be The Lord is there Secondly From this Spiritual Presence of Christ all Gospel Ordinances derive all that Power and Efficacy which is by them exerted upon the Souls of Men either in their Conversion or Edification This power is not inherent in them nor do they act as natural necessary agents but as instituted means which are successful or unsuccessful according as Christ by his Spirit co-operates with them 1 Cor. 3. 7. He that plants is nothing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase that is they are nothing to the purpose nothing to the accomplishment of Mens Salvation without the concurrence of the Spirit of Christ. For when the Apostle makes himself and Apollos with all other Ministers nothing we must understand him speaking not absolutely but comparatively and relatively they are necessary in their places and sufficient in their kind for what they are appointed to else it would be a reflection upon the Wisdom of God that instituted them but singly in themselves and disjunctively considered they are nothing as a Trumpet or wind Instrument is nothing as to its end and use except breath be inspired into it and that breath modulated by the art and skill of the inspirer like Ezekiets Wheels that move not but as the Spirit that was in them moved and directed their motions If Ordinances wrought upon Souls naturally and necessarily as the fire burneth then they could not fail of success upon all that come under them But it is with them as with the Waters of the Pool of Bethesda whose healing vertue was only found at that season when the Angel descended and troubled them Thirdly This Spiritual Presence of Christ gives the Ordinances of the Gospel that awful solemnity which is due upon that account to them The Presence of Christ in them commands reverence from all that are about him God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are round about him Hence is that solemn caution or threatning Levit. 26. 23 24. If you walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you the Hebrew word in that Text signifies to walk rashly or at an adventure with God sine personae discrimine without considering with whom we have to do and what an awful Majesty we stand before And the punishment is suitable to the sin I also will walk at an adventure with you making no discrimination in my Judgments betwixt your persons and the persons of the worst of Men. Oh that this were duly considered by all that have to do with God in Gospel institutions Fourthly 'T is the Spiritual Presence of Christ in his Churches and Ordinances that gives them their Continuance and Stability when ever the Spirit of Christ departs from them it will not be long before they depart from us or if they should not their continuance will be little to our advantage When the Glory of the Lord once dismounted from betwixt the Cherubims when that sad voice was heard in the Temple migremus hinc let us go hence how soon was both City and Temple made a desolation And truly Christ's Presence is not so fixed to any Place or any Ordinances but the sins of the people may banish it away Rev. 2. 5. Who will tarry in any place longer than he is welcom if he have any where else to go But more particularly let us here discuss these two points I. How it appears Christ is thus Spiritually Present with his Churches and Ordinances II. Why it is necessary he should be so First By what evidences doth it manifestly appear that there is such a presence of Christ with his Churches and Ordinances And this will appear by two undeniable evidences thereof 1. By their wonderful Preservations 2. From their supernatural Effects First From their wonderful Preservations for it is wholly unaccountable and unconceiveable how the Churches Ministers and Ordinances should be supported and preserved without it
the Soul of Man against Christ is Ignorance that obex infernalis that hellish Bolt which effectually keeps Christ out of the Soul. If Knowledge be the Key that opens the Heart to Christ as its plain it is from Luke 11. 52. where Christ denounceth a wo to them that took away the Key of Knowledge then Ignorance must needs be the shutter that makes fast the door of the Heart against Christ. Upon this ground Christ told the Woman of Samaria Iohn 4. 10. that her Infideliâ—y grew upon the root of her Ignorance If thou 〈◊〉 the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Ah sinners did you but know what a Christ he is that is offered to your Souls in the Gospel did you see his beauty fulness and suitablness and feel your own necessities of him all the World could not keep you from him You would break through all reproaches all sufferings all self-denials to come into the enjoyment of him But alas it is with you as it was with those Cant. 5. 9. What is thy beloved say they to the Spouse more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us Unknown excellencies attract not Ignorance is Satans Scepter which he sways over all his Kingdom of darkness and holds his Vassals in miserable bondage to him Hence the Devils are called The rulers of the darkness of this World Ephes. 6. 12. Alas were the Eyes of sinners but opened to see their woful state and their remedy in Christ he could never hold them in subjection one day longer they would break away from under his cruel Government and run over by Thousands to Christ for so they do as soon as ever God opens their Eyes in the same hour they are turned from darkness to light they are also turned from the power of Satan to God Acts 28. 16. Oh that you did but know the worth of your Souls the dreadful danger they are in and the fearfâ—l wrath that hangs over them the willingness and ability of Christ to save them you could not sleep one night longer in the state you are The next cry would be what shall I do to be saved Who will shew me the way to Christ Help Ministers help Christians yea help Lord these would be the laments and cries of them that are now secure and quiet but the God of this World hath blinded the Eyes of them that believe not No cries for a Phisitian because no sense how their Souls are stabbed by sins of commission and starved by sins of omission Oh that the great Physitian would once apply his excellent eye-salve to your understandings which are yet darkned with gross ignorance both of your misery and remedy The Second Bar. The Second Bar or Lock that shuts Christ out of Mens Souls is the sin of Vnbelief this is one of the strongest holds of Satan wherein he trusteth this is a sin that not only locks up the Heart of a sinner but also binds up the Hand of a Saviour Matth. 13. 58. He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief It obstructed his miraculous Works when he was on Earth and it obstructs his gracious Works now he is in Heaven A Saviour is come into the World but poor Unbeliever thy Soul can neither have Union nor Communion with him till this Bar of thy unbelief be removed The Gospel is come among us with mighty Arguments to convince and powerful Motives to perswade but little saving effect follows its main design is to many frustrated and all this through unbelief shutting up and hardning Mens hearts under it The Word preached did not profit them because of their unbelief Heb. 4. 2. Ah cursed Bar Which shuts up thy Heart shuts out thy Saviour and will effectually shut thee out of Heaven except the Almighty power of God break it asunder They could not enter in because of unbelief The ruin of Souls is laid at the Door of unbelief t is the damning sin Mark 16. 16. and truly called so because no other sin could damn but in the vertue of this sin That 's the Second Bar to Christ. Third Bar. The Third Bar denying entrance to Christ into the hearts of sinners is Pride and stoutness of Spirit The natural Heart is a proud Heart it lives upon its own stock it cannot stoop to a sincere and universal renunciation of its own righteousness Rom. 10. 3. Being ignorant of the righteousness of God and going about to establish their own righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have not submitted to the righteousness of God. Pride stiffens the Will that it cannot stoop or condescend to declare their own emptiness discover their own shame and live wholly upon the righteousness of another Proud nature had as live be damned as deny it self in such appoint as this is this makes Faith so exceeding difficult because it involves such deep points of self-denial in it to give up all to Christ to draw all from Christ and to be willing to part with all for Christ what Will can be brought to a deliberate consent to such things as these unless an omnipotent Power bow it 'T is natural to Men rather to eat a brown crust or wear a course ragged garment which they can call their own than to feed upon the richest dainties or wear the costliest garments which they must receive as an alms or gift from another Oh how hard is it to subdue this pride of the Heart even after light and conviction is come into the Soul to convince Men of their undone condition and the absolute necessity of an other and higher righteousness than their own When Souls are in a treaty with Christ and the match is almost made this is the sin that makes the last opposition Feign would they come to Christ ten thousand Worlds for a Christ but yet they think they must not approach him without some qualifications which are yet wanting But Soul if ever Christ and thou conclude the match thou must deny Self even in this the most refined form and interest of it and come as Abraham did naked and empty handed to him that justifieth the ungodly Down with this House-Idol thy self thy righteous self trimmed up like another Agag with such specious pretences of humility Fourth Bar. The fourth Bar forbiding Christs entrance into the Soul is custom in sin Sin hath so fixed it self by long continuance in the Soul the Soul is so setled and confirmed in its course that all arguments and perswasions to change our way are swept away by the power of custom as straws and feathers are by the rapid course of a mighty torrent Ier. 13. 23. Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Soap and Nitre may as soon make a Blackmoor white or fetch the spots out of the Leopards
Verily verily I say unto you you must be born again Iohn 3. 5. O sinner that hard Heart of thine must be humbled thy stubborn and refractory Will must be bowed all the powers of thy Soul must be unlockt and opened unto Christ he must come into thy Soul or thou canst never see the face of God in peace It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Till thy Heart be opened Christ with all the hopes of glory stand without thee And if hopes from the death of Christ without us without the application of his person be enough to save Men then why are any damned Consult 1 Cor. 1. 30. Adams sin damns none but only such as are in him and Christs righteousness saves none but those only that are by faith in him the eternal purposes of the Father the meritorious death of the Son puts no Man into the state of Salvation and happiness till both be brought home by the Spirits powerful application in the work of saving conversion T is good news good indeed that Christ died for sinners t is good news that Christ is brought to our very doors in the tenders of the Gospel and that the Spirit knocks at the door of our Hearts by many convictions and perswasions to open to him and enjoy the unspeakable benefits of his death these things bring us nigh to Christ the next door to Salvation and yet all this may be eventually but a dreadful aggravation of our damnation and will certainly be so to them whose Hearts are but almost opened to Christ. V. Inference See hence the necessity of fervent prayer to accompany the preaching of the Gospel Without the Spirit and power of God accompanying the Word no Heart can ever be opened to Christ Alas such Bars as these are too strong for the breath of Man to break Let Ministers pray and the People pray that the Gospel may be preached with the holy Ghost sent down from Heaven 1 Pet. 1. 12. It greatly concerns us that preach the Gospel to wrestle with God upon our knees to accompany us in the dispensation of it unto the People to steep that seed we sow among you in tears and prayers before you hear it and I beseech you Brethren let us not strive alone joyn your cries to Heaven with ours for the blessing of the Spirit upon the Word How doth Paul beg of the People as a beggar would beg for an alms at the door for their assistance in Prayer Rom. 15. 30. I beseech you brethren for the Lord Iesus Christ sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me For want of such wrestlings with God in prayer there is so little efficacy in Ordinances Martha told her Saviour Iohn 11. 21. Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died and I may tell you that if the Spirit had been here your Souls had not remained dead under the Word as they do this day Oh when the Sabbath draws near let fervent cries ascend from every Family to Heaven Lord pour out thy Spirit with thy Word make it mighty through thy Power to open these Gates of Iron and break asunder these Bars of Brass Second Vse of Exhortation Seeing the Case stands thus that all Hearts by nature are barr'd and shut up against Christ let every Soul do what it can and strive to its uttermost to get the Heart and Will opened to Christ Strive to enter in at the straight gate Christ is at the Door Oh strive with your selves as well as with God now to get it opened now that Salvation is come so near to your Souls Object But have you not told us that no sinner can open his own Heart nor bow his own Will to Christ Answ. True he cannot convert himself but yet he may do many things in order to it and which have a remote tendency towards it which he doth not do and so he perisheth not though he cannot but because he will not Divers things may be done by poor sinners with their own Hearts which are not done and though in themselves they are insufficient yet being the way and method in and by which the Spirit of God usually works we are bound to do them As for Example 1. Though it be not in your power to open your Hearts to Christ yet it is in your power to forbear the external acts of sin which fasten your Hearts the more against Christ Who forceth thine Hands to steal thy Tongue to swear or lye who forces the cup of excess down thy Throat 2ly Though you cannot open your Hearts under the Word yet it is in your power to wait and attend upon the external Duties and Ordinances of the Gospel Why cannot those Feet carry thee to the Assemblies of the Saints as well as to an Ale-house 3ly And though you cannot let the Word effectually into your Hearts yet certainly you can apply your minds with more attention and consideration to it than you do Who forces thine Eyes to wander or closes them with sleep when the awful matters of eternal Life and Death are founding in thine Ears 4ly Though you cannot open your Hearts to embrace Christ yet certainly you can reflect upon your selves when the obvious characters of a Christless state are plainly held forth before your Eyes God hath given you a self-reflecting power The spirit of a Man knoweth the things of a Man 1 Cor. 2. 11. When you hear of Convictions of sin compunctions of Heart for sin deep concernments of the Soul about its eternal state hungerings and thirstings after Christ restless and anxious Days and Nights about Salvation others have felt you can certainly turn in upon your selves and examine whether ever it were so with you and if not methinks it were not hard to aggravate your own misery to take your poor Souls aside and bemoan them saying Ah my poor Soul canst thou endure everlasting burnings What will become of thee if Christ pass thee by and his Spirit strive no more with thee Why can't you throw your selves at the Feet of God and cry for mercy Prayer is a part of natural Worship distress usually puts Men upon it that yet have no Grace Ionah 1. 5. Do but this towards the opening and saving of your own Souls which though it be not in it self sufficient nor puts God under any meritorious obligation or necessity to add the rest yet it puts you into the way of the Spirit And is not thy Soul sinner worth as much as this comes too Have you not taken a great deal more pains than this for the trifles of this World And will it not be a dreadful aggravation of sin and misery to all eternity that you perished so easily Dont you see many striving round about you for Christ and Salvation whilst you sit still with folded Arms as if you had nothing to do for another World
and satisfied that God hath chosen him to Salvation but whether he apprehend it or no the thing in it self is certain and real consult 1. Thes. 1. 4 5. Knowing brethren beloved your election of God for our Gospel came not to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost c. Their election of God was the thing to be proved but alas might they say who can know that but God alone It is among the Divine secrets yes saith the Apostle we know it and by this we know it for our Gospel came not unto you in an empty sound but in mighty efficacy effectually opening your Hearts to believe A more clear and certain evidence of your Election cannot be given in this World look again into Rom. 8. 30. Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified There are two great and ravishing Truths cleared in this Scripture the one is this That the whole number of the called upon Earth is taken out of such as were predestinated to Life before the World was The other is this That as the whole number of the glorified Saints in Heaven is made up of Souls called and justified upon Earth so the called Soul that is the Soul that savingly opens to Christ by Faith may from that work of the Spirit upon him solidly reason backward to Gods electing love before all time and forward to his glorification with God when time shall be no more Oh how strong is the Consolation flowing out of this glorious work of the Spirit upon our Hearts That 's one thing II. Consolation The opening of the Heart to receive Christ is the peculiar effect of the Divine and Almighty Power of God the Arm of an Angel is too weak to break those strong bars before mentioned Therefore the exceeding greatness of his Power is applied unto this work of believing Ephes. 1. 19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his Power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Here is Power the Power of God the greatness of his Power the exceeding greatness of his Power the very same Power which wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and all this no more than needs to make the Heart of Man open by Faith to receive Christ the only Key that fits the cross Wards of Mans Will and effectually opens his Heart is in the Hand of Christ Revel 3. 7. He hath the key of David he opeâ—â—th and no Man shutteth How long have some of you â—at under able Ministers searching Sermons and roâ—â—ing Providences yet all to no purpose till this Almighty Power came with the Word and then the work was done The people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal. 110. 3. What a glorious Power was that which opened Christ grave when he lay in the Heart of the Earth with a mighty Stone rouled upon his Sepulcher And how mighty a Power is that which breaks asunder all those Bars which kept thy Soul in the State of sin and death None feel this Power but those only whom God intendeth for Salvation and having once wrought this it is engaged to go through with all the rest which yet remaineth to be done to perfect thy Salvation III. Consolation The opening of thy Heart to Christ is not only an effect of Almighty Power but such an effect of it without which all that Christ had done and suffered had been of no avail to thy Salvation neither the eternal Decrees of God nor the meritorious sufferings of Christ are effectual to any Mans Salvation until this work of the Spirit be wronght upon his Heart The offering up of Christ is in its kind and place â—ufficient to purchase our Redemption but it is the receiving of Christ by Faith that brings home Salvation to our Souls where there be many con-causes to produce one effect that effect is not produced until the last cause have wrought Thus 't is here the moving cause viz. the free-grace of God hath wrought and the meritorious cause the death of Christ hath also wrought but still the Heart even of an elect Man remaineth under guilt and condemnation until the Spirit who is the applying cause have also wrought this blessed effect we now speak of It is Christ in us i. e. in union with our Souls which is to us the hope of glory 1 Col. 27. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Behold then the last stroak given in this opening of the Heart by Faith herein electing Love hath brought home Christ with all the purchases and benefits of his death into the actual possession of thy Soul. Oh how transporting and ravishing a consideration is this IV. Consolation In this work the opening of the Heart by Faith the great design and main intention of the Gospel is also answered and accomplished You behold in the Church a glorious frame of Ordinances set up by Divine Institution Ministers appointed to preach Sermons Sacraments Prayers Singing variety of Ordinances set up excellent gifts given to Men as the fruit of Christs ascension into Heaven Now what was the design of God in the institution of all these things but that by them as instruments in his Hand our ignorant dead unbelieving Hearts might be opened unto Christ in acts of Repentance and Faith and built up to a perfect Man Ministers are sent to open your Eyes turn you from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Acts 26. 18. They are not sent by Christ into this World to get a living to drive so poor a Trade as that for themselves but to bring you to Faith 1 Cor. 3. 5. When Gods elect are thus brought in and built up in Christ you shall see this glorious frame of Ordinances taken down there will be no more Preaching nor Hearing the end of all these things being accomplished 1 Cor. 15. 24. Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God even the Father c. Now the consideration of the accomplishment of the great and principal design of the Gospel thus far upon thy Heart is matter of transporting joy Ministers may and must dye Ordinances may be removed but this blessed effect of them upon thy Soul shall never dye God will perfect what he hath begun that 's the Fourth Consolation V. Consolation And then Fifthly That day wherein thy Heart is savingly opened to receive Christ that very day is Salvation come to thy Soul. When Zacheus his Heart was opened to Christ he tells him Luke 19. 9. This day is Salvation come to thy House Salvation was come into the World before thou wast born yea Salvation was come to thy doors in the tenders of the Gospel before but it never came into thy Soul till the day wherein thy Heart opened to Christ by Faith
been if wicked Ieroboam and Ahaz had been cut off in their first transgressions The Lord suffers many a wicked Parent to stand for a time under his Patience because Children are to spring from them who will obey and embrace brace that Christ whom their wicked Parents rejected Yea the Wicked do not only propagate the Church but are useful to preserve and defend it as the useless chass is a defence to the Wheat Rev. 12. 16. The Earth shall help the Woman Fifthly To Conclude the Lord excerciseth this long-suffering towards sinners in a gracious condescension to the Prayers of his People Were it not that the Lord had left a small remnant we had been as Sodom we had been like unto Gomorah Isa. 1. 9. The Prayers and Intercessions of the Saints are a skreen betwixt wicked Men and the wrath of God for a time Iob 22. 30. The innocent preserve the Island The World stands by the Prayers of the Saints what multitudes of rebellious Christ-despising sinners swarm this day in every part of this Nation Such as declare by their open practice they will not have Christ to reign over them Who contemn his offers despise his Messengers but blessed be God yea and let them bless him too that there are others mourning to the Lord for them beseeching his forbearance towards them Little do the wicked know how much they are beholding to the Prayers of the Saints These and such like Reasons prevail with the Lord Jesus to stand in waiting patient posture at the doors of sinners Ah. how loath is he to give them up We now proceed to the Uses of this Point by way of 1. Information 2. Exhortation 3. Consolation I. Vse And first this Point will be very fruitful for Information of our Understandings in divers great and useful Points both Doctrinal and Practical wherein every Soul among you is deeply concerned and therefore I beseech you let them be heard and pondred with an answerable attention and seriousness of Spirit and the first Inference shall be this I. Inference If the Lord Jesus do exercise such admirable Patience towards sinners Then hou much better is it for poor sinners to be in the Hands of Christ than in the Hand of the best and holiest Man in the World O sinner t is better for thee to fall into the Hands of the Meek and Merciful Jesus than into the Hand of the dearest Friend thou hast upon Earth no Creature can bear what Christ hears no Patience like the Patience of Christ t is said of Moses Numb 11. 12 Now the Man Moses was meek above all the Men upon the face of the Earth There was never such a Man born into the World for Patience Meekness and Long-suffering as Moses was and yet for all that this mirror of Meekness could not bear the Provocations of Israel You Rebels saith he must I draw Water for you out of the Rock Thus was his Spirit russled with the provocations of Israel and this lost him the Land of Canaan Ionah was a good Man a Prophet of the Lord yet because the Lord would not be so quick and severe with Niniveh as Ionah would have had him In what uncomly Language doth his angry Soul return upon his God Ionah 4. 2. O Lord saith he was not this my saying when I was yet in my Country Therefore I sled before unto Tarshish for I knew thou wert a gracious God and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil therefore now O Lord take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye than to live q. d. Ah Lord I knew it would come to this I knew thy gracious nature how inclinable thou art to mercy and that upon the first appearance of their repentance thou wouldst repent of the evil and so free-grace would make me as a lyer among them Nay give me leave to speak a higher word than all this and let it not seem strange that the Patience of the glorified Saints in Heaven is nothing to the Patience of Christ towards provoking sinners upon Earth Those glorified Souls that be above though they have Patience among other Graces perfected in its kind yet still it is but Created finite Patience and it cannot bear what Christ's Patience bears take an instance of it out of Rev. 6. 9 10 11. I saw under the Altar the Souls of those that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which the held and they cried with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true Dost thou not judge and avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth And it was said unto them That they Should rest for a little season Here you see glorified Souls less able to bear the slow pace of Justice towards their Enemies than Christ was 'T is true here was no sinful impatience but yet a patience short of Christs infinite Patience Ah if you were to depend upon the Patience of any creature in Heaven or Earth you had worn it out long ago I will not execute the fierceness of my anger for I am God and not Man. Ah 't is well we have to do with a God if a Man find his enemy will he let him go well away 1 Sam. 24. 19. No no he will reckon before he part with him Sinner the Lord finds thee dayly in thy sins and yet lets thee go yet beware thou try not his Patience too far lest vengeance overtake thee at last and pay the justice of God with all the arrearages due to his Patience II. Inference Hence it follows that convinced and broken hearted sinners need not be discouraged in going to Iesus Christ for mircy seeing he exercises such wonderful Patince towards obstinate and refusing sinners This inference breaths pure Gospel it is a Cordial to chear the Heart that is moving towards Christ with fear and trembling 'T is a great artifice of the Devil to daunt and discourage courage poor convinced sinners by telling them there is no hope of mercy for them that they shall find the Arms of Mercy closed the Bowels of Compassion shut up that the Time of Mercy is now past they come too late O how busie is Satan with such suggestions as these in many of your Souls But I am come to tell you this day that these are but the artifices of the Enemy you are going to the Fountain of Mercy Patience Goodness and Long-suffering go on and you shall find abundantly more than you expect He will not cast off a Soul that comes Mourning and Panting towards him and is willing to subscribe the Gospel articles of Reconciliation No he will not shut out such a Soul whatever its rebellions and provocations have been Sinner thou art going to the meek and merciful Jesus Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn
the Son of God. Had they not been precious in his Eyes he would never have shed his most precious Blood to ransom them 2. Were they not highly valuable in his Eyes he would never wait with such unwearied Patience to save them as he doth He hath born Thousands of repulses and unreasonable denials from you Sinner Christ hath knockt at thy door in many a Sermon in many a Prayer in many a sickness in all which thou hast put him off denyed him or delayed him yet still he continues knocking and waiting Thou couldst not have made the poorest Beggar in the World wait at thy door so long as thy Redeemer hath been made to wait and yet he is not gone At this day his voice sounds in thine ears Behold I stand at the door and knock Here 's clear demonstration of the preciousness of thy Soul in the Redeemer's Eyes And then Lastly When Christ ends the Treaty and gives up the Souls of Men for lost and unperswadable with what regret and sorrow doth he part with them Never did one Friend part from another with such demonstrations of sorrow as Christ parteth with the Souls of sinners The Bowels of his compassion roul together for the knows what is coming upon them and what that eternal misery is into which their wilful rejection of him will cast them In Luke 19. 22. you find the Redeemers tears wept over obstinate Ierusalend And when he came nigh to the City he wept over it and said O Jerusalem Jerusalem that thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are did from thine Eyes Like unto this is that expression Isa. 1. 24. Ah I will ease me of mine enemies c. Though it be an ease to his Justice yet he cannot give them up without an ah an interjection of sorrow so in Hosea 11. 8. How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Judah I must do it but how shall I go about it All these expressions shew the great value God hath for your Souls and did you know it also certainly you would not make Christ wait one hour longer V. Inference Hence it follows That greater is the sin and severer will be the condemnation of them that perish under the Gospel than of all other People in the World. Let me speak freely to you that hear me this day Jesus Christ hath spent more of the riches of his Patience upon you in one year yea in this very day than he hath spent upon the heathen World in all the days of their lives they never heard of Christ and the great Salvation they have had no calls to Faith and Repentance as you have had dont think God hath dealt at this rate with other Nations You have his Sabbaths Ministers Calls he hath not dealt so with other Nations and as for these things they have not known them Psal. 147. 19. God hath dealt in a peculiar way with us and these special favours will make dreadful accounts He told the Iews among whom he had preacht and wrought his Miracles It would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorah in the day of Iudgment than for them and in his Name I will tell you this day that Barbarous Indians and Americans will have a milder Hell than you Mitius ardent and as the Lord told Ezechiel chap. 3. 5 6. Thou art not sent to a People of a strange Speech and of an hard Language whose words thou canst not understand surely had I sent thee to them they would have harkned unto thee but the house of Israel will not harken unto thee for they will not harken unto me For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard hearted Ah Brethren 't is a sad Truth that the Ministers of Christ have found more fruit of their Labours among the Salvage Americans than in England a People born and bred up under the Gospel Had heathenish People your Sabbaths your Ministers and Bibles they would not deal by Christ as you have done But look you to it for certainly the severity of his Justice will at last recompence the expence of his Patience There are two Glasses turned up this day and both almost run down the Glass of the Gospel running down on Earth and the Glass of Christ's Patience running down in Heaven Be sure of it that for every sand of Mercy every drop of Love that runs down in vain in this World a drop of wrath runs into the vial of wrath which is fitting in Heaven VI. Inference If Christ have exercised such admirable Patience and Long-suffering towards you before he could gain entrance into your Hearts then you have all the reason in the World to exercise your Patience for Christ and account all long-suffering to be your unquestionable duty Christ was not weary in waiting upon you be not you weary in waiting upon him or for him Now there are three things wherein the People of God will have much occasion to exercise their Patience with respect to Christ 1. You will need a great deal of Patience to wait for the returns and answers of your Prayers you knock and wait at the door of Mercy and no answer comes hereupon discouragement and weariness seizeth your Spirits Possibly some of you have Prayers many years agone upon the file in Heaven some upon Spiritual accounts and some upon Temporal and because the answer is not dispatcht your Eyes are ready to fail with waiting for the Lord may bear long with his own Elect Luke 18. 7. The seed of Prayer lyes under the clods and will at last spring up for he never said to the seed of Jacob Seek me in vain none seek God in vain but those that seek him vainly Now you should not be too quick and short breathed in waithing upon God for the returns of Prayer considering how long you made Christ wait upon you 2. You will have occasion to exercise your Patience in bearing the burden of reproaches and sufferings for Christ For to you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe but also to suffer for his sake Phil. 1. 29. Sufferings you see are the Gifts of Christ the Comforts of sufferings is his Gift and so are the abilities to suffer-also and that which will encrease your suffering-ability will be the confideration of Christ's long-suffering towards you and the hard things he endured for you and from you 3. You will have occasion to exercise your Patience for the day of your compleat Redemption and Salvation If you love Christ fervently the time of your separation from him will be born difficultly vehement love needs the allay of Patience 2 Thes. 3. 5. The Lord direct your Hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Others need much Patience to dye but such will need as much Patience to live but whatever the exercises of your Patience shall be whether in waiting for
Grace but Christ within you by the Work of Grace which must be unto you the hope of Glory Colos. 1. 27. He is not only among you in respect of external Means but he is come into your Understandings and Consciences Yea some motions of his you may feel upon your affections there wants but a little more to make you eternally Happy O what would one effectual touch upon your Wills be worth now The Head-Work is done but O that the Heart-Work were done too You are almost saved but to be almost saved is to be wholly and eternally Lost if it go no further 'T is a sad thing for a Man that hath one Foot in Heaven to slide from thence into Hell. 'T is sad to be Shipwreckt at the Harbours mouth Thirdly Jesus Christ hath an unquestionable right to enter into and possess every one of your Souls Satan is but an Usurper Christ is your lawful Owner and Proprietor thy Soul sinner hath not so full a Title to thy Body as Christ hath to thy Soul. Satan keeps Christ out of his right Christ knocks at the door of his own House he built it and therefore may well claim admission into it it is his own Creature Col. 1. 16. By him were all things made whether they be visible or invisible Bodies or Souls The invisible part thy Soul is his Workmanship a stately Structure of his own raising He hath also a right by Redemption Christ hath bought thy Soul and that at the invaluable price of his own Blood. Who then can dispute the right of Christ to enter in to his own House But alas he cometh to his own but his own receive him not Fourthly Open the door to Christ for a train of blessings and mercies comes in with him a troop of privileges follow him In the same day and hour that Christ comes into thine Heart by a full consent and deliberate choice a pardon comes with him of all the sins that ever thou committedst in Thought Word or Action Will such a pardon be welcome to thy Soul Then let Christ be welcome for where Christ comes pardon comes if you open to Christ you open to peace and who would shut the door of his Soul against Peace If peace be welcome let Christ be welcome for peace follows faith in Christ Rom. 5. 1 Where Christ comes liberty comes Iohn 8. 36. If the Son therefore shall make you free then are you free indeed Are you in love with Bonds and Fetters Satans Laws are written in Blood Christs yoak is easie and his commands not grievous If you love liberty love Christ. In a word where Christ comes Salvation comes for he is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him If therefore you love Pardon Peace Liberty and Salvation shut not the door against Christ for all these follow him where-ever he goes Fifthly Christ this day solemnly demands entrance into thy Soul he begs thee to open to him 2 Cor. 5. 20. He commands thee to open to him 1 Iohn 3. 23. He denounceth eternal Damnation to those that refuse him entrance Now consider well here is entrance demanded under pain of the eternal Wrath of God this demand is filed and recorded in Heaven at your own peril be it if you shut the door against him only this I will say in my Redeemers behalf if you refuse bear witness Heaven and Earth this day that Christ solemnly demanded entrance into thy Soul and was refused bear witness that the door was shut against the only Redeemer who intreated commanded and threatned eternal Damnation to the rejecters of him O methinks that Scripture Prov. 1. 24. 25. is able to strike terror into the very center of that Soul that refuses the offers of Christ. Sixthly And so I have done my Masters errand if you now refuse the knock of Christ at your Hearts he may never knock more and where are you then There is a knock which will be the last knock a call which will be his last call and after that no more knocks or calls but an eternal Silence as to any overture of Mercy or Grace But if I do open to Christ he will never come into such a filthy polluted sinful Soul as mine is Who saith so Who dare affirm so impudent a falshood in the very face of the Text If any Man open unto me I will come in to him If I open to Christ I must bid farewel to ease and rest in this World reproaches sufferings losses follow him If Christ Pardon and Salvation be not worth the enduring and suffering these small things sure thou valuest Christ and thy Soul at a low rate Oh who can sufficiently bewail the ignorance and folly of Unbelievers that will fell their Souls and hopes of Heaven for such trifles And if Christ and thy Soul must part upon these terms then hear me sinner and let it sink into thy Heart thy Damnation will be both 1. Just and Righteous 2. Unavoydable and sure 1. Thy Damnation will be Just for thou hadst thy own choice and deliberately preferredst the insignificant trifles of this World before Christ and Salvation It was plainly told thee what the issue of thy rejecting Christ would be and yet after sufficient warning thou adventuredst upon it whatever other sinners will plead I know not but as for thee thou must be speechless Matth. 22. 12. If thou dye Christless thou must appear at his Bar speechless and the day of Judgment will be the day of the revelation of the righteous Judgment of God Rom. 2. 5. 2ly It will also be Unavoidable for there is no other way to Salvation but this Acts 4. 12. No Christ no Heaven no Faith no Christ How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Heb. 2. 3. Mercy it self cannot save thee out of Christ for all the saving Mercy of God is dispensed to Men through him Iude vers 21. 'T is to no purpose to cry Mercy Lord Mercy when Christ in whom all the Mercies of God are dispensed to Men is rejected by thee III. Vse for Consolation This Point winds up in Consolation to all such as hearing the knocks of Christ have opened or are now resolved to open their Hearts unto him and that nothing henceforth shall keep Christ and their Souls asunder To such I shall address the following grounds of Comfort I. Consolation An opening Heart to Christ is a work wholly and altogether Supernatural A special work of the Spirit of God never found upon any but an elect Soul. There are common gifts of the Spirit such as Knowledge vanishing Convictions c. but the opening of the Heart by Faith is the special saving and peculiar work of the Spirit Iohn 6. 29. This is the work of God that ye believe Yea it is the effect of the Almighty Power of God the exceeding greatness of his Power is exerted in the work of Faith Eph. 1. 19. it
râ—proach of Men and despised of the people How poor in temporal comforts when he said Matth. 8. 20. The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his Head. Yea how poor was he in Spiritual Comforts when that astonishing outcry brake from him upon the Cross Matth. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me O let it astonish us that Christ should earnestly desire union with our Souls upon terms of such deep self-denial to himself 3ly Though Christ gain nothing by you and impoverished himself for you yet doth he endure many vile repulses delays and denials of his Suit and will not leave it for all that O astonishing grace One would think that the least delay and much more a refusal of an overture from Christ upon such terms as you have heard should make his indignation presently to smoak against such a Soul and that he should say Thou hast refused my offer so full of self-denying and condescending grace never shall another offer be made to so unworthy a Soul and yet you see he is contented to wait as well as knock Behold I stand at the door and knock 4ly Herein the admirable Grace of this heavenly suiter appears that Jesus Christ passeth by millions of Creatures of more excellent Gifts and Temperaments and never makes them one offer of himself never turneth aside to give one knock at their door but comes to thee the vilest and bafest of Creatures and will not be gone from thy door without his errands end Knowest thou not sinner that among the unsanctified there are to be found multitudes of Men and Women of more raised and excellent Parts nimble Wits strong Memory solid Judgments yea Men and Women of cleaner Conversations strict Morality adorned with excellent homilitical Vertues capable if called to do him abundantly more service than thou canst yet these are past by and he becomes a Suiter to such a poor worthless thing as thou art yea and rejoyces in his choice Matth. 11. 24. I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Here is the triumph of Free-grace 5ly And then in the last place this justly increaseth the wonder That ever Jesus Christ should desire and delight to dwell in such an unclean Heart as thine which from the beginning hath been the Seat and Throne of Satan full of all uncleanness and abominations O that ever Christ should make an overture of love to such a polluted Soul That he should chose to erect his Throne where Satans seat was Look into thine Heart sinner and think what can Christ see here to be desired Thou knowest thy Heart hath been a sink of sin thy Conscience like the common shoar into which all the filth of thy life hath been cast yet Christ passeth by thee as thou liest in thy blood and filthyness and casteth love upon thee and desire towards thee as it is Ezek. 16. 6 8. All these things put together make it justly admirable and astonishing in our Eyes that ever Jesus Christ the Lord from Heaven should become an earnest Suiter for union and communion with the Souls of sinners I. Vse for Information I. Inference If Christ be such an earnest Suiter for union and communion with the Souls of sinners then it follows That sinners can justly charge their damnation upon none but themselves Your blood must be upon your own Heads Salvation by Christ is not only freely offered but you are with great importunity perswaded to accept it Christ offers you life you chuse rather to dye than accept it upon his terms where now can your damnation be charged but upon your own wilful obstinacy Hos. 13. 9. O Israel thy destruction is of thy self Thou art the Author of thine own ruin I would have gathered thy Children saith Christ to Ierusalem but thou wouldest not your ruin therefore lies upon your selves and upon none beside indeed if the Ministers of Christ be negligent in their duty they may come in as accessories to your destruction but that 's a poor relief to you as for my self I hope I may with Paul take God to record this day that I am free from the blood of all Men now consider what a dismal aggravation of your destruction this will be that you perished by your own Hands this cuts off all plea and apology II. Inference Hence it also follows that distressed sinners have no reason to question Christs willingness to receive them when their Hearts are made willing to come unto him It were no less than a blasphemous imputation of insincerity to Christ himself to question his willingness to receive broken-hearted sinners after so many protestations as he hath made in the Gospel of his zeal and earnestness for their Salvation that Scripture Iohn 6. 37. puts it out of doubt He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out I know guilt breeds many fears and jealousies in the Hearts of sinners will Christ ever accept and receive such a one as I Try him Soul he hath said he will let him have but the deliberate consent of thy Heart to his terms and then if thou be rejected thou wilt be the first Soul in the World that ever met with a repulse from him III. Inference By Christs earnest Suit for the Souls of sinners you may estimate the invaluable worth and precious Nature of the Soul of Man. Were not the Soul a Creature of great value Jesus Christ would never be so deeply concerned about the winning and saving of it Sinners have a vile esteem of their own Souls they will sell them for nought but Christ knows their true worth and his solicitude to save them is answerable to his estimation of them he counts when he hath gained a Soul he hath gained a Treasure Therefore he pleads woos and waits so earnestly and assiduously for the Salvation of them Two things speak the great value of the Soul of Man. 1. That it is a marriagable Creature to Christ now 2. That it is capable of Glory with Christ hereafter I. It is a marriagable Creature to Christ now capable of espousals to the Son of God upon which account it is Christ so earnestly seeks its love and sues for its consent Now this is a dignity beyond all other Creatures in Heaven or Earth no Angel in Heaven no other Creature but the Soul of Man on Earth is capable of espousals unto Christ 't is a dignity above that of Angels for Christ took not on him their Nature and the Hypostatical union is the ground and foundation of the Mystical union They are Members indeed of Christs Kingdom and he is to them a Head of dominion but this honour was never conferred upon Angels to be Members of his Body Flesh and Bones as the Saints are Ephes. 5. 30. II. As the Soul is capable of espousals
injuries thou hast done against him that 's a very considerable Scripture to this purpose in Isa. 55. 7 8 9. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts Man lies under a double misery one by reason of Affliction another by reason of Transgression concerning both these Gods thoughts are not as ours but far above what we can think either 1. with simple cogitation i. e. we cannot think such thoughts to others under misery in themselves or under transgression against us as God doth towards as Or 2. by way of reflexive comprehension i. e. we cannot conceive what those thoughts of God are towards us when we are under misery or sin just as he thinks them still his thoughts will be above ours as the Heavens are above the Earth such is the altitude of Heaven above the Earth that the vast body of the whole Earth is but a small inconsiderable point to it the highest Cedars Mountains Clouds cannot reach it Gods thoughts are infinite ours finite his thoughts are continued ours interrupted and at a stand his are immutable ours changable his are intuitive ours discursive therefore never measure his by your own the thoughts of pardoning Grace in him are rich plenteous and glorious but when our unbelieving Hearts have practised upon them they are quite another thing Thou saist how can such a Wretch as I obtain mercy Thou knowest not but the Lord knoweth O if we could take in such a proper Idea and apprehension of the mercy and goodness of God as he hath given of them himself in Exod. 34. 6 7. this would bring you to Christ with much incouragement VIII Direction Eighthly Be not discouraged in the work of Faith though no peace or comfort should come in by the first act of it Nay though there should be an increase of trouble for the present the first saving act of Faith certainly puts you into a state of peace but it may not presently produce the sense of peace you may after you have believed and really closed with Christ meet with some discouragements which may make you question whether Christ have received you or no Whether he have any love for your Souls or no Yet held on whether comfort come or come not though Christ and comfort are inseparable yet Christ and the sense of comfort are not so think not that all your troubles shall be over as soon as ever you believe because it is said Heb. 4. 3. We which have believed do enter into rest That Scripture speaks of a state of rest and not of the present or continued sense of rest the Woman of Canaan in Matth. 15. 26 27. did really believe in Christ yet met with sore tryals under the first act of her Faith yet this took her not off from the work of Faith but rather quickned and inflamed her the more she was glad of a word from Christ and she expected deeds O but the words were discourageing It is not meet to take the Childrens bread and give it to Dogs yet this beats not off her Faith the Dog belongs to the Family and crumbs to the Dog. O Woman saith Christ great is thy Faith. If you resolve for Christ you must not be discouraged a resolute Faith overcomes all difficulties You pray you believe and yet no comfort well the vision of Peace is for an appointed time at the end it will speak and not lye IX Direction Ninthly In your treating with Christ have a care of all secret reserves that will spoil the bargain betwixt Christ and you If I regard iniquity in my Heart God will not hear my prayer saith David If there be but a reserve of one lust that reserve will break off the Treaty be honest with Christ and say not of any sin the Lord be merciful to me in this and be sure there be no secret purpose or reserve in thy Heart for a retreat in time of danger but imbark thy self with Christ for Storms and Tempests Troubles and Afflictions as well as Peace and Prosperâ—ty Christ bestows himself wholly upon you and he expects the same from you give up all or you will get nothing from him X. Direction Tenthly Close up your Treaty with Christ by a solemn Covenant with him ingage your selves to be the Lords One shall say I am the Lords and another shall subscribe with his Hand to the Holy One of Israel Here you have two things to do 1. To give your selves up to Christ according to that expression 2 Cor. 8. 5. You gave your selves to the Lord Make over Soul and Body Time and Talents henceforth to be dedicated things to his Service 2. Take Christ in both his Natures and in all his Offices to be yours and to this Covenant you are to stand to the last breath whatever times or troubles shall come this consent of thy Heart to be Christs this choice of thy Will in taking him for thine is but the eccho of Christs choice of thee and I would rather have such an evidence of my interest in him than a voice from Heaven to assure me that Christ is mine SERMON VII Revel 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock if any Man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me If any Man. THIS expression extends the gracious offer of Christ and brings it home to every hearer 'T is a Proclamation with a Si quis If any Man as if Christ should say I will have this offer of my Grace to go round to every particular person if thou or thou or thou the greatest the vilest of sinners of what quality or condition soever old or young prophane or hypocritical wilt hear my voice and open to me I will come in to their Souls And hereby all objections are obviated as for Example I am the greatest of sinners saith one I have been a self couzening hypocrite saith another I have resisted Grace too long and doubt the time of Mercy is past saith a third the ground of all these and a thousand more objections is taken away by the gracious extent of Christs offer in the Text For who is he that can limit where Christ doth not This gives us a Seventh profitable and comfortable Observation which is this VII DOCT. That Iesus Christ will not refuse to come in to the Soul of the vilest sinner when once it is made heartily willing to open to him If any Man open I will come in to him It is not unworthiness but unwillingness that Bars any Man from Christ thousands have mist of
see that dou don't despise them I think no Age was ever deeper drencht in the guilt of this sin than the present Age is III. Inference What a fearful Judgment is the removing the Gospel from a Nation seeing it is in and by the Gospel Christ speaketh life to the Souls of men The Spirit of God and the Word of God usually come and go together when therefore these are gone no more Conversions are to be expected Dreadful is the case of that people Prov. 29. 18. Where no Vision is the people perish Those are direful Menaces Isa. 8. 16. Bind up the Law seal up the Testimony among my Disciples And Rev. 2. 5. I will remove thy Candlestick out of its place Better the Sun were taken out of the Heavens than the Gospel out of the Church O England provoke not thy God to execute upon thee the Judgment here threatned Think not God hath made such a Settlement of the Gospel that it shall never be removed however you use it Your advocate in Heaven hath obtained it for you for a time upon trial if you bring forth fruit well you and the Generations to come shall be happy in it if not this blessed Tree which hath brought forth so many Mercies to you and yours must and will be cut down Luke 13. 8. yea and even now is the ax laid at the root of the Tree Matth. 3. 10. 'T is an allusion to a Carpenter that throws down the Ax and Saws at the root of the Tree he intends to cut down The only ground of hope which remains with us this day is that there are some Buds appearing some Fruits putting forth and if there be a blessing in the Bud the Lord will spare it according to Isa. 65. 8. But these hopes are balanced with many sad symptoms which may make us tremble to think what God is about to do with such a sinful Nation IV. Inference Those that have heard Christ's voice and call in the Gospel have no reason to be discouraged from going to Christ in the way of Faith. Christ's Call is a sufficient warrant to believe Many poor Souls are stagger'd in their work of Faith by the fear of Presumption an ugly Objection which they know not how to clear themselves of But certainly this above all Considerations in the world enervates this Objection of Presumption Then men presume when they act without a Call or Warrant but if Christ have spoken to your hearts by the voice of his Spirit you have the best warrant in the world to go to him What though you know not the Issue yet your Obedience is due to his Call. By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an Inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went Hebâ— 11. 8. So must you It is not necessary to your going to Christ that you must be ascertained before hand what the Event and Issue thereof shall be Your believing is an act of Obedience to the voice of Christ that calls you When therefore Satan shall object What such a wretched Soul as thou go to Christ canst thou imagine to find entertainment with him whom thou hast so abused and deeply wronged Thy answer should be ready 'T is true I have been a vile wretch and have deeply wronged the Lord Jesus but Christ hath spoken to my heart he hath called me and therefore it can be no presumption in me to go at his Call but contrariwise it would be flat Rebellion against his Soveraign Command to refuse to believe and come unto him yea it would be a greater sin than any of my former sins have been Beside had the Lord Jesus no intention of mercy as thou maliciously insinuatest towards my Soul he would never have spoken to my heart by conviction and perswasion as he hath done V. Inference If no Soul can open to Christ until it hear his powerful spiritual voice then the change made upon men by conversion is wholly supernatural The rise of Faith is from this power of Christ not from the nature of Man Iohn 1. 13. Proud Nature arrogates this power and honour to it self but without any ground for though some things may be done by men in their natural state which have a remote tendency to conversion and spiritual life yet it can never open to Christ savingly without a power communicated from himself There is a total impotence in Nature to produce such an effect as this The Scripture speaks it roundly telling us The Natural man cannot of himself know the things that are of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. Cannot believe for Faith is not of our selves it is the gift of God Iohn 6. 44. Cannot obey Rom. 8. 7. The carnal Mind is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Cannot speak a good word Matth. 12. 34. Cannot think a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. What a poor impotent thing then is the Natural man who can neither believe nor obey speak a good word or think a good thought by any natural power of his own Say not 't is against Reason for God to require men to do what they cannot and then damn them for not doing it For 1. though man hath lost his ability to obey yet God hath not lost his right to command for at that rate any man might shake off the yoke of God's Soveraignty by disabling himself through his own sin for the duties of Obedience 2. Though man hath not a sufficient power yet there is in him an intolerable pride which puffs him up with a conceit that he hath what he hath not and can do what he cannot The Command is therefore of great use to check this pride and convince man of his impotency Rev. 3. 17. 3. Every man can do more than he doth towards his own Conversion And therefore it is good for men to be urged by the Commands to all those Duties in the use and observance whereof Christ ordinarily comes into the Soul by a supernatural power II. Vse for Exhortation This Point gives a loud Call to all that are within the sound of the Gospel especially to such as begin to feel some power accompanying the Word to their hearts diligently to hearken to the voice of Christ and obey his first Call without further delay Rev. 2. 7. He that hath an ear to hear let him hear 'T is a dreadful and dangerous thing to turn away the Ear from him that speaks from Heaven Hebr. 12. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not that refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaks from Heaven See that ye refuse not the Caution implies the Matter to be very weighty and a neglect or refusal in this matter to be highly dangerous Turn not away your Ear be not guilty of the least aversation sleight or neglect in so great and
is a standing mercy never to be recall'd vacated or annulled Rom. 8. 33 34 35. The challenge is sent to Hell and Earth Men and Devils Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect 'T is God that justifies who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died c. Who can arrest when the Creditor dischargeth Who can sue the bond when the debt is paid 'T is Christ that died The Table is spread and the first mercy served in is the pardon of sin Eat O friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved Now the labouring Conscience that rowled and tossed upon the waves of a thousand fears may drop Anchor and ride quiet in the pacifique Sea of a pardoned State. What joy must stream through the Conscience when the sweetness of that Scripture Rom. 8. 1. shall be pressed into thy cup of Consolation The pardoned Soul may speak and think of Death and Judgment without consternation yea may look upon it as a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord Acts 3. 19. This is heavenly Manna the sweetness of it swallows up all expression all conceptions no words no thoughts can comprehend the riches of this mercy II. And yet this is not all behold another mercy in consequence unto this brought in to refresh and cheer the consenting Soul and that is peace with God. Pardon and peace go together Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God. Peace is a word of a vast comprehension peace in the language of the Old Testament comprehends all Temporal good things 1 Sam. 25. 6. And peace in the New Testament comprehends all Spiritual mercies 2 Thes. 3. 16. the blessings of Heaven and Earth are wrapt up in this word The Soul that opens to Christ hath peace of reconciliation in Heaven the enmity that was betwixt God and that Soul is taken away through the blood of Christ Isa. 12. 1 2. O Lord I will praise thee though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me This must be an invaluable mercy for the purchase of it cost the blood of Christ Isa. 53. 5. The chastisement of our peace was upon him He made peace by the blood of his Cross Col. 1. 20. and this peace of reconciliation is setled by Christ upon a firm foundation His blood gives it a more firm and steady basis and foundation than that of the Hills and Mountains Isa. 54. 10. And that which makes it so firm and sure is the Advocateship of Jesus Christ in Heaven 1 Iohn 2. 1. 2. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father There is also peace in the believers Conscience peace as it were by Proclamation from Heaven and this is built upon the peace of Reconciliation We cannot have the the sense of peace till we are brought into a state of peace the latter is the result of the former And this is a special part of that supper Christ provides to entertain the Soul that receives it How sweet this is is better felt than spoken A dreadful sound was lately in the Ears of the Law-condemned sinner but now his Heart is the seat of peace And this peace is 1. the Souls gard against all inward and outward terrors Phil. 4. 7. The peace of God shall keep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the word is guard your hearts and minds The persons of Princes are secured by guards of armed and valiant Men who watch while they sleep Thus Solomon had his royal guard because of fear in the night Cant. 3. 7 8. This peace of God Christian is thy life-guard and secures thee better than Solomons threescore valiant men that were about him Time was when thou wast affraid to sleep for fear thou shouldst awake in Hell Now thou maist say with David I will both lay me down and sleep for thou Lord makest me to dwell in safety Now come life come death the Soul is safe the peace of God is its royal guard 2. This peace is ease as well as safety to the Soul 'T is heart-ease no sooner doth God speak peace to the Conscience but the Soul finds it self at ease and rest Heb. 4. 3. We which have believed do enter into rest It is with such a Soul as it was with the Dove Noah sent out of the Ark that poor creature wandred in the Air as long as her wings could carry her had her strength fail'd there was nothing but the waters to receive her O how sweet was rest in the Ark 3. This peace is news from Heaven and the sweetest tydings that ever blest the sinners Ear next unto Christ Heb. 12. 24. The blood of Christ speaketh better things than that of Abel And you are come to this blood of sprinkling the same day and hour that Christ is come into your Souls This is the voice of that blood Thou hast sinned I have satisfied Thou hast kindled the wrath of God And I have quencht it The Angels of Heaven cannot feed higher their joys are not more delicious than those prepared for believers are whereof this is a foretast whatever circumstances of trouble a man be in this effectually relieves him Paul and Silas were in sad circumstances shut up in the inner-prison their feet made fast in the stocks their cruel keeper at the door their execution designed in a few days God did but set this dish upon the Table before the prisoners and they could not forbear to sing at the feast Acts 16. 25. At midnight they sang c. III. After these two royal dishes Pardon and Peace a third will come in viz. Ioy in the Holy Ghost this is somewhat beyond peace 't is the very quintessence and Spirit of all Consolation The Kingdom of God is said to consist in it Rom. 14. 17. 't is somewhat near to the joy of the glorified 1 Pet. 1. 8. 't is Heaven upon Earth All believers do not immediately attain it but one time or other God usually gives them a taste of it and when he doth it is as it were a short Salvation O who can tell what that is which the Apostle calls The shedding abroad of the love of God into the Heart by the Holy Ghost which is given to us Rom. 5. 5. It is a joy which wants an Epithet to express the sweetness of it 1 Pet. 1. 8. Ioy unspeakable and full of glory It hath the very scent and taste of Heaven in it and there is but a gradual difference betwixt it and the joy of Heaven This joy of the Holy Ghost is a spiritual cheeriness streaming through the Soul of a believer upon the Spirits testimony which clears his interest in Christ and glory No sooner doth the Spirit shed forth the love of God into the believers Heart but it streams and overflows with joy Joy is no more under that Souls command and this will evidently appear if you consider the matter of it it arises from the light of
Gods countenance Psal. 4. 6 7. the heavenly 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen we love c. The Soul is transported with joy ravished with the glory and excellency of Christ. Didst thou ever see this Christ whom thy Soul is so ravished with No I have not seen him yet my Soul is transported with so much love to him Whom having not seen we love But if thou never sawest him how comes thy Soul to be so delighted and ravished with him why though I never saw him by the Eye of sense yet I do see him by the Eye of faith and by that sight my Soul is flooded with spiritual joy Believing we rejoyce But what manner of joy is that which you taste why no Tongue can express that for it is joy unspeakable But how are Christ and Heaven turned into such ravishing joys to the Soul why the Spirit of the Lord gives the believing Soul not only a light to discern the transcendent excellency of these spiritual objects but a sight of his interest in them also This is my Christ and this the glory prepared for me without interest Heaven it self cannot be turned into joy My Soul rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luke 1. 47. We read Luke 13. 28. of some that shall have a sight of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and yet a sight without joy a dreadful sight to them for want of a joint interest with them in that glory They shall see and yet wail and weep and gnash their teeth But an interest sealed gives joy unspeakable Now as to the excellency of this joy it will be found to be the pleasant light of the Soul light and joy are Synonimous terms in Scripture Psal. 97. 11. 'T is as the cheerful light of the Morning after a sad and dismal Night You that have sat in darkness and the shadow of death you that have sat mourning in the dark without one glimpse of a promise you that have convers'd with nothing but dismal thoughts of Hell and Wrath O I shall be cast away for ever What will you say when after all this darkness the Day-star shall arise in your hearts the joy of Heaven shall beam upon your Souls Will not this be a glorious reward for all your self-denyal for Christ and fully recompense for the frowns of carnal relations for giving entertainment to Christ This joy of the Lord if there were no other Heaven is an abundant recompense This joy of the Lord shall be your strength Neh. 8. 10. Let God but give a man or woman a little of this Joy into his heart and he shall presently feel himself strengthened by it either to do or to suffer the will of God. Now he can pray with enlargement hear with comfort meditate with delight and if God call him to suffer this Joy shall strengthen him to bear it This was it that made the Martyrs go singing to the stake This therefore transcends all the joys of this lower world There are sinful pleasures men find in the fulfilling their lusts There are sensitive joys that men find in the good creatures of God filling their hearts with food and gladness There are also delusive joys false comforts that Hypocrites find in their ungrounded hopes of Heaven The joys of the Sensualist are bruitish the joys of the Hypocrite are ensnaring and vanishing but the joys of the Holy Ghost are solid sweet and leading to the fulness of everlasting joy This is the third heavenly dainty you may expect to feed on if you open your hearts to receive Christ by Faith else you have all the consolation that ever you must expect IV. We read in Scripture of the Sealings of the Spirit a choice and blessed Priviledg of Believers consequent upon believing Eph. 1. 13. In whom after that ye believed ye were sealed c. This then may be expected by every Soul that opens to Christ how rich soever the comforts of it be The Spirit indeed seals not before Faith for then he should set his Seal to a Blank but he usually seals after believing and that as the Spirit of promise Note here the Agent or Person sealing the Spirit he knows the counsels thoughts and purposes of God 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. He also is authorized to this work and being the Spirit of truth he cannot deceive us There is a twofold Seal spoken of in Scripture one referring to God's eternal foreknowledge and choice of men 2 Tim. 2. 19. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth who are his i. e. the Lord perfectly knows every Soul that belongs to him through the world But now what comfort is this to a poor Believer that God knows who are his Therefore there is another sealing referring to the Spirit as his act upon Believers to make them know that they are his The first is general The Lord knoweth who are is But this is particular The Lord knoweth thee to be his This is joyful news indeed the former makes it sure in it self the latter makes it sure to us Now this is a most glorious priviledge a work of the Spirit which hath a most ravishing delicious sweetness in it and that which makes it so is 1 The weightiness of the matter sealed to which is no less than Christ and the eternal Inheritance purchased by his Blood. This Seal secures our Title to Christ and to the eternal glory We are sealed to the day of redemption The sealed Believer can say Christ how great how glorious soever he be is my Christ the Covenant of Grace and all the invaluable promises contained in it are mine 2. The rest and quietness which follows it makes it an invaluable mercy this brings the anxious solicitous Mind and Conscience to rest and peace O what a mercy is it to have all those knots untied those objections answer'd those fears banished under which the doubting Soul so long laboured and which kept it so many nights waking and restless God only knows at what rate some poor Creatures live under the scarings of their own Consciences and frequent fears of Hell And what an inconceivable mercy it would be to them to be delivered at once from their dangers and fears which hold them under a Spirit of Bondage Open to Christ and thou art in the way to such a deliverance Come unto me and I will give you rest saith Christ Matth. 11. 28 29. 3. This sealing of the Spirit which follows upon believing will establish the Soul in Christ confirm it and settle it in the ways of God which is an unspeakable priviledge 2 Cor. 1. 22. Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ is God who also hath sealed us Mark how establishment follows sealing New temptations may come great persecutions and sore afflictions may come but how well is that Soul provided for them all that hath the sealings of the Spirit unto the day of redemption Yea
and above all the comforts of this world 6 In a word the joys of Heaven are unspeakable Joys no words can make known to others what they are When Paul was caught up into Paradice he heard unspeakable words 2 Cor. 12. 4. And are there not times even in this life wherein the Saints do feel that which no words can express 1 Pet. 1. 8. Rev. 2. 17. Now if such earnests of the Spirit do follow after believing if opening the Soul to Christ do bring it into these Suburbs of Heaven who then would not receive Christ into his Soul and such an heaven upon earth with him And thus I have shewed you what some of those heavenly rarities are with which Christ entertains Believers upon earth the fulness and perfection whereof is reserved for Heaven and hereby secured to the opening or believing Soul which was the first thing to be discovered Secondly Next we shall enquire into the reasons why Christ thus entertains feasts and refreshes the Soul that receives him And First This he doth to express the great joy and satisfaction his Soul hath in the faith and obedience of poor Sinners We read Isa. 53. 11. of the hard travel of Christs Soul and the great satisfaction he hath in the fruit and issue thereof He shall see of the travel of his Soul and shall be satisfied O what pleasure and satisfaction doth it give him to behold the eternal counsels of God and sore travels of his Soul brought to such a birth there is no pleasure like it to the Soul of Christ in this world As it is abundant satisfaction to a man to behold the accomplishment of a design upon which he hath laid out many thoughts and much cost at last happily finished Or as it is to a Woman that hath had a hard labour a sore travel for a Child to behold the fruit of her Womb to embrace and smile upon that Child she travail'd for So and much more than so it is to Christ and therefore as the Father of the Prodigal manifested the Joy of his heart for the return of his Son who was to him as dead and lost by a feast and musick So doth Christ here answerably manifest the content and satisfaction of his Soul by entertaining the Believer with these royal dainties of Heaven 't is the Souls welcom home to Christ. Secondly This Christ doth to relieve and refresh poor distressed Souls who have endured so many fears and sorrows from the time of their first conviction until this day of their union with Christ by Faith. The way of faith is a very humbling way there 's much cutting work in antecedent convictions and humiliations sad nights and sick days with many poor Souls and these things bring them very low They see the Law broken by sin wrath hanging over them in the threatnings the bitter tast thereof they have in their consciences they have dwelt with fears and horrors a long time and they need succour and support which the Lord Jesus is now resolved to give them lest the spirit fail before him Isa. 57. 16. He delights to comfort them that are cast down 2 Cor. 7. 6. Christ is of a compassionate nature he is as ready as able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2. 18. That word which we render Succour signifies to run in by way of help at the cry of one that is in distress Many emphatical cries have gone up to Heaven from the distressed sin-sick Soul these the compassionate Jesus hears and now comes in seasonably to succour and refresh it He hath rich Cordials for fainting hours the Soul hath had a bitter break-fast and therefore Christ will give it a comfortable Supper I will come in to him and sup with him Thirdly Those that open their hearts to Christ must expect to meet great troubles sufferings and temptations in that new course whereinto they are entred Their way to Heaven lies through much tribulation all our troubles are not over when we are got into Christ nay then commonly our greatest outward troubles begin Heb. 10. 32. After ye believed ye endured a great fight of affliction Carnal relations now scoff frown and cast off the world hates them and marks them out for persecution Now that poor Christians may not utterly be discouraged when they meet with those troubles in the way of their duty Christ will chear and hearten them by these spiritual refreshments This is a stock laid in for a rainy day Christ himself had a voice from Heaven Matth. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son a little before his great combat much more do his poor people need such consolations to support and encourage them The wise God foresees and by this provision forelays the troubles they are to meet with An hour of Sealing fortifies the Soul for an hour of Suffering It hath been the observation of some Christians when they have felt more than ordinary comforts of the Spirit that some great tryal hath been near them and the event hath confirmed it Whatever comforts Christ gives his people at their first entrance into his Service they will have need enough of them all before they finish their course To these first sealings they will need often to run back and have frequent recourse to them and all little enough to support them in after-tryals Fourthly Christ comes in to the opening Soul with such divine Cordials and refreshments to defeat and countermine the plot of Satan who hath so often and so lately been discouraging them by representing the ways of Christ as sad melancholy ways telling them they shall never laugh more never be merry more after they have embraced and espoused the ways of holiness Spiritus Calvinianus est spiritus melancholicus Well their own experiences shall now confute it for they now taste that pleasure in Christ in faith and obedience which they never tasted in the ways of sin thus that scandalous libel of the Devil is experimentally confuted They find they were never truly merry till now Luke 15. 24. All true mirth commences from our closing with Christ and they began to be merry Now these spiritual refreshments are by Christ here called a Supper because the Supper among the Jews was their best meal Luke 14. 17. and because it is the last meal This is not only the best meal that ever a believer made but upon these spiritual comforts though much more refined and perfect they are to feed for ever in Heaven O Christian well maist thou be contented with thine outward lot of providence however it shall fall in this World with respect to thy outward-man Will a King from Heaven come and sup with thee Doth he feed thy Soul with pardon peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Seals an earnest of future glory then thou livest at an higher and nobler rate than any of thy carnal neighbours do Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us
of Satan to think so but this is what I say that Communion with God consisteth not in the mere performances of Duties Communion and duties of Religion are two things separable one from the other Men may multiply duties and yet be strangers to Communion with God in them even humiliation and fasting days may be kept by Souls that are estranged from Communion with the Lord Zach. 7. 5. Speak unto all the people of the Land and unto the Priests saying When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even these seventy years did ye at all fast unto me even unto me q. d. Had your Souls pure intentions and respects in those duties to my glory Had you special Communion with me or I with you in those duties Did you ever feel your Souls in these days wounded for sin Or did you not fast out of custom and mourn for company God may be near in Mens mouths and at the same time far from their reins Ier. 12. 2. Religious words may flow out of Mens lips when not one drop of Religion touches their reins and hearts that is the secret inward powers of their Souls you cannot therefore safely depend upon this Christ rejects this plea Matth. 7. 22. Get a better evidence of Communion with God than this or you will certainly come short of your expectation I know you not saith Christ there was never any Spiritual acquaintance betwixt your Souls and me I know you not in a way of approbation 2ly Neither do all stirrings and workings of the affections in duties infallibly evidence and prove Communion betwixt God and that Soul for it is possible yea common to have the affections raised in a natural way and by external motives in the duties of Religion this you see in that Example Ezck. 33. 32. And lo thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument for they hear thy words but they do them not The sweet modulation of the Prophets voice was like the skilful touch of a rare musical Instrument which in a natural way moved and excited their affections thus Iohns hearers rejoyced in his Ministry for a season I confess this is very apt to cast Souls into a mistake of their condition They distinguish not betwixt the influences that come upon their affections from without from extrinsick things and those that are purely inward Divine and Spiritual But then II. To shew you positively what Communion with God is Here we must consider two things 1. What things it presupposes in us 2. Wherein the nature of it consists First There are divers things pre-required and presupposed unto all actual Communion with God in Duties and where these things are wanting men can have no communion with God. You may have Communion with his People and Communion with his Ordinances but not Communion with God and Christ in them And these pre-requisites are three I. Vnion with Christ is fundamentally necessary to all Communion with him All Communion is founded in Union and where there is no Union there can be no Communion You know saith an excellent Person the member receives nothing from the head unless it be united to it nor the branch from the root All is yours and ye are Christs 1 Cor. 3. 23. Here 's a vast possession but all founded upon Vnion as all Communion is founded upon Vnion so all Vnion terminates in Communion and the closer the Vnion the fuller is the Communion Before our Union with Christ we are strangers unto God Eph. 2. I3 We live without God in the World 't is in Christ that we are made nigh 't is in the beloved we are made accepted Whilst we are in the state of alienation from Christ we have no more to do with the communications of joy and peace with the seals and earnests of the Spirit than a Native Indian hath with the privileges of London If any man open to me saith Christ I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me II. Communion with God presupposes the habits of grace implanted in the Soul by sanctification a found and sincere change of Heart No sanctification no communion 1 Iohn 1. 6. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth The Apostle gives the lye to such bold pretenders The Lord is nigh to all that call upon him unto all that call upon him in truth That latter clause restrains all spiritual communion unto upright Souls For an Hypocrite shall not come before him Job 13. 16. III. Communion with God doth not only suppose grace implanted but also implanted grace excited grace in act For a man may have the habits of faith love and delight in him and yet be without actual communion with God for by this grace is awakned and put into act A believer when he is asleep and acts no grace is in a state of communion with God but if he will have actual communion his faith love and delight must be awakned they must not lye asleep in the habit Thou saidst seek my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek Psal. 27. 8. It was in order to actual communion with Christ that the Church so earnestly begs fresh influences of the Spirit to excite her graces into act Cant. 4. I6 Awake O North-wind and come thou South blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits And though believers are not so to wait for influences of the Spirit as mean time to neglect all proper outward means of exciting their own graces engaging their Hearts to approach unto God Ier. 30. 21. Yet certainly it is the work of Gods Spirit and without him we can do nothing to any purpose The Seaman may trim the Sayls wey the Anchor put all into a sayling posture but till a gale come from Heaven there is little or no motion The same Spirit that plants the habits is he also that excites the acts of grace These three things therefore are pre-requisites unto all communion with God. Secondly Next let us consider wherein this Heavenly privilege of communion with God doth consist and more generally it will be found to lye in a spiritual correspondency betwixt Christ and the Soul. God lets forth influences upon our Souls and we by the assistance of his Spirit make returns again unto God. Communion is a mutual action so in the Text I will sup with him and he with me We cry to God and God answers that cry by the incomes of Spiritual grace upon the Soul Psal. I38 3. In the day that I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthnedst me with strength in my Soul. More particularly there are many ways or methods wherein Men have this Spiritual correspondence or communion with God viz. 1. In the contemplation of his Attributes 2. In
Psal. 51. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce restore unto me the joys of thy salvation vers 12. I cannot here omit to detect a great mistake here even amongst Gods own people many of them understand not what communion there should be with God under the manifestations of his displeasure for sin they know that the affectionate meltings of their Souls into love praise c. to be communion with God but that the shame grief and sorrow produced in them by the manifestations of Gods displeasure I say that even in these things there may be communion with God they understand not But let me tell thee that even such things as these are the choice fruits of the Spirit of Adoption and that in them thy Soul hath as real and beneficial communion with God as in the greatest transports of Spiritual joy and comfort O'tis a blessed frame to be before the Lord as Ezra was after conviction of thy loosness carelesness and Spiritual defilements the consequents of those sins saying with him O my God I am ashamed and even blush to lift up my face unto thee Ezra 9. 6. Shame and blushing are as excellent signs of communion with God as the sweetest smiles Lastly There are representations and special contemplations of the omniscience of God producing sincerity comfort in appeals and recourse to it in doubts of our own uprightness And this also is a choice and excellent method of communion with God. 1. When the omniscience of God strongly obliges the Soul to sincerity and uprightness as it did David Psal. 139. 11 12. compared with Psal. 18. 23. I was also upright before him The consideration that he was always before the Eye of God was his preservative from iniquity yea from his own iniquity 2. When it produceth comforts in appeals to it as it did in Hezekiah 2 Kings 20. 3. Remember now O Lord that I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart So Iob 10. 7. he also appeals to this attribute Thou knowest that I am not wicked So did Ieremiah Chap. 12. 3. But thou O Lord knowest me thou hast seen me and tryed my heart towards thee 3. When we have recourse to it under doubts and fears of our own uprightness Thus did David Psal. 139. 23. Search me O God and try my heart prove me and see my reins see if there be any way of wickedness in me In all these attributes of God Christians have real and sweet communion with him which was the first thing to be opened Communion with God in the meditation of his attributes Secondly The next method of communion with God is in the exercise of our graces in the various duties of Religion In Prayer Hearing Sacraments c. in all which the Spirit of the Lord influences the graces of his people and they return the fruits thereof in some measure to him As God hath planted various graces in regenerate Souls so he hath appointed various duties to exercise and draw forth those graces and when they do so then have his people sweet actual communion with him And 1. To begin with the first grace that shews it self in the Soul of a Christian to wit repentance and sorrow for sin In the exercise of this grace of repentance the Soul pours out it self before the Lord with much bitterness and brokenness of Heart casts forth its sorrows which sorrows are as so much seed sown and in return thereto the Lord usually sends an answer of peace Psal. 32. 4 5. I said I will confess my transgression and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Here 's a voice of sorrow sent up and a voice of peace coming down which is real communion betwixt God and Man in the exercises of repentace 2ly As there are seasons in duty wherein the Saints exercise their repentance and the Lord returns peace so likewise the Lord helps them in their duties to act their faith in return whereunto they find from the Lord inward support rest and refreshment Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed And oft-times an assurance of the mercies they have acted their faith about 1 Iohn 5. I4 3ly The Lord many times draws forth eminent degrees of our love to him in the course of our duties the heart is filled with love to Christ. The strength of the Soul is drawn forth to Christ in love and this the Lord repays in kind love for love Iohn 14. 21. He that loveth me my Father will love him and we will come and make our abode with him Here is sweet communion with God in the exercises of love O what a rich trade do Christians drive this way in their duties and exercises of graces 4ly To mention no more in the duties of Passive Obedience Christians are enabled to exercise their patience meekness and long suffering for Christ in return to which the Lord gives them the singular consolations of his Spirit Double returns of joy The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon them 1 Pet. 4. 13 14. The Lord strengthens them with passive fortitude with all might in the inner-man unto all long-suffering but the reward of that long-suffering is joyfulness Col. 1. 11. This is the trade they drive with Heaven Thirdly Beside communion with God in the contemplation of his attributes and graces exercised in the course of duties there is another method of communion with God in the way of his Providences for therein also his people walk with him To give a taste of this let us consider Providence in a fourfold aspect upon the people of God. 1. There are afflictive providences rods and rebukes wherewith the Lord chastens his children this is the discipline of his house in answer whereunto gracious Souls return meek and childlike submission a fruit of the Spirit of Adoption they are brought to accept the punishment of their iniquities And herein lies communion with God under the rod this return to the rod may not be presently made for there is much stubborness unmortified in the best hearts Heb. I2 7. but this is the fruit it shall yield and when it doth there is real communion between God and the afflicted Soul. Let not Christians mistake themselves if when God is smiting they are humbling searching and blessing God for the discoveries of sin made by their afflictions admiring his wisdom in timing moderating and chusing the rod kissing it with a childlike submission and saying it is good for me that I have been afflicted that Soul hath real communion with God though it may be for a time without joy 2ly There are times wherein providence straightens the people of God when the waters of comfort ebb and run very low wants pinch if then the Soul returns filial dependance upon fatherly care saying with David Psal. 23. 1. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want It belongs to him to provide and to me to depend I
of a man as communion with God doth Those are most like unto God that converse most frequently with him The beauty of the Lord is upon those Souls it figures the Spirit of a Man after the Divine pattern That 's the first Excellency of communion with God it assimilates them to God. II. Excellency It is the beauty of the Soul in the Eyes of God and all good men it makes the face to shine No outward splendor attracts like this it makes a man the most desirable companion in the whole World 1 Iohn 1. 3. These things have I written unto you that you might have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Iesus Christ. This was the great and only inducement the Apostle makes use of to draw the World into fellowship with the Saints that their fellowship is with God. And if there were ten thousand other inducements yet none like this You read of a blessed time Zach. 12. When the Earth shall be full of holiness when the Iews that are now as a lost generation to the Eye of sense shall be called and an eminent degree of sanctification shall be visible in them and then see the effect of this vers 23. In those days ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the Nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Iew saying We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you This is the powerful attractive the Lord is with you 't is the effect of communion with God which makes the righteous more excellent than his neighbour Prov. 12. 26. what a vast and visible difference doth this make between one man and another How heavenly sweet and desirable are the converses and company of some men How frothy burdensoin and unprofitable is the company of others And what makes the difference but only this the one walks in communion with God the other is alienated from the life of God III. Excellency It is the Centre which rests the motions of a weary Soul 't is the Rest and Refreshment of a man's Spirit Psal. 116. 7. Return unto thy rest O my Soul. When we attain perfect Communion with God in Heaven we attain to perfect Rest and all the Rest the Spirit of man finds on Earth is found in Communion with God. Take a sanctified person who hath intermitted for some time his communion with the Lord and ask him is your Soul at rest and ease He will tell you no. The motions of his Soul are like those of a member out of Joynt neither comly nor easie Let that man recover his spiritual frame again and with it he recovers his Rest and Comfort Christians you meet with variety of troubles in this World many a sweet Comfort cut off many a hopeful project dasht by the hand of Providence and what think you is the meaning of those blasting disappointing Providences Surely this is their design and errand to disturb your false rest in the bosom of the Creature to pluck away those pillows you were laying your Heads upon that thereby you might be reduced unto God and recover your lost communion with him and say with David Return unto thy rest O my Soul. Sometimes we are setling our selves to rest in an Estate in a Child or the like at this time it is usual with God to say Go Losses smite and blast such a mans Estate go Death and take away the desire of his Eyes with a stroke that my Child may find rest nowhere but in me God is the Ark the Soul like the Dove Noah sent forth let it fly where it will it shall find no rest till it comes back to God. IV. Excellency It is the Desire of all gracious souls throughout the World. Wherever there is a gracious Soul the desires of that Soul are working after communion with God as Christ was called The desire of all Nations so communion with him is The desire of all Saints and this speaks the excellency of it Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to see the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple i. e. To enjoy communion with him in the publick duties of his worship One thing have I desired that is one thing above all other things such an one as if God shall give me I can comfortably bear the want of all other things Let him deny me what he will if so be he will not deny me this one thing this one thing shall richly recompence the want of all other things Hence the desires of the Saints are so intense and fervent after this one thing Psal. 42. 1. My Soul panteth after thee O God and Psal. 119. 81. My Soul fainteth for thy Salvation Psal. 101. 2. When wilt thou come unto me No duties can satisfie without it the Soul cannot bear the delays much less the denials of it They reckon their lives worth nothing without it Ministers may come Ordinances and Sabbaths may come but there 's no satisfaction to the desires of a gracious Heart till God come too O when wilt thou come unto me V. Excellency As it is the Desire so it is the Delight of all the Children of God both in Heaven and Earth as communion with the Saints is the delight of Christ Cant. 2. 14. Let me hear thy voice And again Cant. 8. 13. The companions harken to thy voice cause me to hear it So communion with Christ is the delight of his people Cant. 2. 3. I sat under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet unto my taste 'T is the pleasure of Christ to see the yearning Countenances the blushing Cheeks the droping Eyes of his people upon their Knees And it is the delight of the Saints to see a smile upon his Face to hear a voice of pardon and peace from his Lips. I must tell you Christians you must look for no such delights as these in any earthly enjoyment none better than these till you come home to glory Communion with God then appears most excellent in as much as it is found to be the desire and delight of all gracious Souls VI. Excellency 'T is the Envy of Satan that which cuts and grates that wicked Spirit O how it grates and galls that proud and envious Spirit to see Men and Women enjoying the felicity and pleasure of that communion with God from which he himself is fallen and cut off for ever To see the Saints embosomed in delightful communion with Christ whilst himself feels the pangs of horror and despair This is what he cannot endure to behold And therefore you shall find in your experience that times of communion with God are usually buisie times of temptations from the Devil Zach. 3. 1. And he shewed me Joshua the high Priest standing before the Lord and
a Witness within them and it was also revealed to them by the Instances and Examples of strokes and punishments of Sin in all Ages by the immediate hand of a justly incensed God. They came not by chance but Divine direction therefore it 's added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Heave◠or from God in Heaven 2. Here is the Object or impulsive Cause of this revealed and inflicted Wrath 't is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ungodliness comprizeth all sins against the first Table the irreligious lives and practices of Men living in the neglect of the Duties of Religion The other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unrighteousness comprizeth all sins against the second Table acts of Fraud Uncleanness c. against Men And because these two general comprehensive words are branched out into many particulars therefore he saith the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness There is not one of the many sins into which ungodliness and unrighteousness are branched out but incenseth the Lords Wrath and though he only mentions the Sins in the Abstract we are to understand the Abstract put here for the Concrete the sins for the sinners that commit them or Gods punishing these sins upon the persons of the Sinners 3. Lastly We have here before us the special aggravation of these sins or that which made them much more provoking to God than otherwise they had been And it was this that whilst they committed these Sins or omitted those Duties they held the truth in unrighteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies to detain stop hinder or put a Remora in the way of that Truth of God or those common Notions they had of his Being Power Goodness Truth c. as also of his Worship and the difference between Good and Evil. These Truths struggled in their Consciences as the Child in the Womb to come to the Birth Conscience instigated them to Duty and laboured to restrain them from Sin but all in vain they overbare their own Consciences and kept those Sentiments and Convictions Prisoners though they struggled for Liberty to break forth into Practice and Obedience Their Convictions were kept down under the Dominion and Power of Corruptions as a Prisoner is shut up by his Keeper Their Lusts were too hard for their Light. Thus you have both the Scope and Sense of the Text. The Point from it is this DOCTRINE That the wrath of God is dreadfully incensed against all those that live in any course of Sin against the light and dictates of their own Consciences Sins of Ignorance provoke the Wrath of God yet are they not of so heinous a nature as sins against light and Conviction are nor shall they be punished so severely Luk. 12. 47. That servant which knew his Lords will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes It excuses a tanto in some measure when a man can say Lord had I known this to be a sin I would not have done it but when the Conscience is convinced and strives to keep us from such an act or course of sinful actions and we stop our Ears against its Voice and Warnings here is an high and horrid Contempt of God and his Law and gives the sin a Scarlet Dye or Tincture Sins of Ignorance cannot compare with such sins as these Ioh. 3. 19. Ioh. 15. 22. To open this Point let me 1. Shew you what Conscience is 2. What the Light of Conscience is and what its kinds are 3. How this Light binds the Conscience and makes it strive in us 4. Then instance in some Cases wherein it doth so 5. And Lastly how and why the imprisoning of these Convictions so dreadfully incenseth the Wrath of God. 1. 'T will be needful to speak a little to the nature of Conscience in general Conscience as our Divines well expresse it is the judgment of a man upon himself as he is Subject to the judgement of God. A Judgment it is and a practical Judgment too it belongs to the understanding faculty 1 Cor. 11. 31. If we would judge our selves c. this self-judgment is the proper Office of the Conscience and to enable it for this its work and office there are as is generally observed three things belonging to every mans Conscience 1 A Knowledge of the Rule or Law according to which it is to judge called the Synteresis which is a treasury of Rules and Principles without which Conscience can no more do its work than an Artificer that wants his Square or Level can do his 2 Knowledge of the Facts or Matters to be judged called the Syneidesis The Conscience of every man keeps a Register of his Actions Thoughts and the very Secrets of the Heart 3 An Ability and delegated Authority to pass Judgment on our selves and Actions according to the Rule and Law of God called Crisis Judgment Here it sits upon the Bench as Gods Vicegerent Absolving or Condemning as it finds the Sincerity or Hypocrisie of the heart upon Tryal 1 Ioh. 3. 20 21. Conscience therefore is an High and Aweful Power it is solo Deo minor next and immediately under God our Judge riding as Ioseph did in the second Chariot and concerning Conscience he saith to every man as he once did to Moses with respect to Pharaoh See I have made thee a god to Pharaoh Exod. 7. 1. The Voice of Conscience is the Voice of God. What it bindeth or looseth on Earth Clave non errante is accordingly bound or loosed in Heaven 1 Ioh. 3. 21. the greatest deference and precise Obedience is due to its Commands Its Consolations are of all the most sweet and its Condemnations only excepting those by the mouth of Christ in the last Judgment most terrible Zuinglius spake not without ground when he said What Death would I not rather chuse what Punishment would I not rather bear yea into what profound Abyss of Hell would I not rather enter than to witness against my Conscience 'T is like he had felt the Terrors of it to be more bitter than Death How many have chosen strangling rather than life under the Terrors of Conscience Wherever you go Conscience accompanies you VVhatever you say do or but think it Registers and Records in order to the Day of Account VVhen all Friends forsake thee yea when thy Soul forsakes thy Body Conscience will not cannot forsake thee When thy Body is weakest and dullest thy Conscience is most vigorous and active Never more life in the Conscience than when Death makes its nearest approach to the Body when it smiles chears acquits and comforts O what an Heaven doth it create within a Man And when it frowns condemns and terrifies how doth it becloud yea benight all the Pleasures Joyes and Delights of this World. O Conscience how glad would the damned be to have taken their
18 19. yet the fear of Coesar hurries him on to the greatest of wickednesses even to give Sentence against Innocent Blood yea the Blood of the Son of God. Darius in like manner Dan. 6. 14. He knew that Daniel was not only an excellent Person but that he was entrapt by the Nobles merely for his Conscience and that to put him to Death was to sacrifice him to their Malice this he and his Conscience debated all the day many encounters he had with it for the Text saith He was sore displeased with himself and set his Heart on Daniel to deliver him and laboured until the going down of the Sun to deliver him but after a days sharp fight betwixt him and his Conscience Lust prevails at last against Light and returns Victor out of the Field in the Evening So it was with poor Spira he seemed to hear as it were an inward Voice Don't write Spira don't write but the love of his Estate Wife and Children drew his Hand to the Paper though Conscience struggled hard to hold it back Thus as the restless Sea strives to beat down or break over its bounds so do impetuous Lusts strive to overbear Light and Conviction video meliora proboque deteriora sequor They know this or that to be a Sin and that they hazard their Souls by it but yet they will adventure on it and rush into Sin as the Horse into the Battle 4. I promised to give you some instances of the Conflicts betwixt Mens Consciences and their Corruptions wherein Conscience is vanquisht and overborn and by what Weapons the Victory over Conscience is obtained Now the Convictions of Men are two-fold viz. I. General Respecting their State. II. Particular Respecting this or that Action I. There are general Convictions and Notices given to some Men and Women by their Consciences that their Condition or State of Soul is neither right nor safe that they want the main thing which constitutes a Christian viz. Regeneration or a gracious change of Heart and Life They hear and read the signs and effects of these things but their Conscience plainly tells them it cannot find them in them that they enjoy the External priviledges of the Saints but they belong not to them that something is still wanting and that the main thing too O my Soul thou art not right thou hast gifts thou hast a Name to live but for all that thou art dead Some further work must be done upon thee or thou art undone to Eternity thou passest for a good Christian among Men but wo to thee if thou die in the State thou art These and such as these are the whispers of some Mens Consciences in their Ears and yet they cannot yield themselves up into the hands of their Convictions so as to confess and bewail their Hypocrisie and gross mistakes and seek for a better foundation to build their hope on Foelix his Conscience gave him such a terrible rouze and monition as this and made him to tremble whilst Paul reason'd with him about Righteousness and Temperance and Judgment to come Acts 24. 25. it whispered in his Ear such Language as this O poor Soul how shall such an Oppressor such an intemperate wretch as thou art stand before God in this day of Judgment which Paul proves in thy face is certainly future for as Tacitus sayeth of him He was inexplebilis Gurges an insatiable gulph of Covetousness so it was with Agrippa Acts 26. 28. He stood at half bent dubious and unresolved what to do He saw the Heavenly Doctrine of Christianity evidently confirmed by Doctrine and Miracles his Conscience pleaded hard with him to embrance it and had almost prevailed Almost or within a little as the word is thou perswadest me to be a Christian but Agrippa had too much Wealth and Honours to deny and forsake for Christ the Love of the present World overbore both the hopes and fears of the World to come And thus that Excellent Fisher for Souls who had throughly converted so many to Christ caught but a piece of Agrippa almost is a great deal for so great a person The Gospel is a Drag-net and brings up all sorts whole Christians and half Christians The Conscience is caught and the Will begins to incline but oh the power and prevalence of Sin which like the Rudder commands all to a contrary course If we come a little nearer and enquire what are those remoraes that stop Conscience in its course bind and imprison stifle and suppress its Convictions that although a Man strongly suspect his foundation to be but Sand his hopes for Heaven a strong delusion yet he will throw up his vain hopes consfess his self deceits and begin all anew What is it which overbears Conscience in this cafe Let Men impartially examine their hearts and it will be found that these three things bind and imprison these Convictions of Conscience and hold the truth in unrighteousness viz. shame fear and pride of Heart I. Shame Men that have been Professors and of good esteem in the World are ashamed the World should know the Mistakes and Errors of all their life past and what deluded Fools and self-deceivers they have been This is a powerful restraint upon Conviction how shall they look their Acquaintance in the face What will Men think and say of them How can ye believe which receive Honour one of another Saith Christ Iohn 5. 44. q. d. What you be Christians and yet not able to endure a censure or a scoff upon your Names That stand more upon your Reputation than your Salvation How can you believe Oh what Madness and exalted Folly appears in this Case Men will chuse rather to go on though Conscience tells them the end of that way will be Death than suffer the shame of a just and necessary retraction which yet indeed is not their shame but their Duty and Glory You that are so tender of the shame of men how will you be able to endure the contempt and shame that shall be cast on you from God Angels and Men in the great Day Luk 9 26. 'T is no shame to acknowledge your mistake but persist in it after Conviction is shameful Madness I knew an excellent Minister who proved an eminent Instrument in the Church of God who in the beginning of his Ministerial Course was not upon the right Foundation of Regeneration This Man had rare Abilities excellent Natural and Acquired Gifts and could Preach of Regeneration Faith and Heavenly-mindedness though he felt nothing of these things in his own Experience His Life was very unblameable and he had no mean Interest and esteem among good men It pleased the Lord whilst this Man was studying an excellent Spiritual Point to preach to others his Conscience first preach'd it in his Study to himself and that with such a close and rousing Application as made him to tremble at it telling him that though he had Gifts above many and sobriety in his Conversation
Learned Men and prudent men who it may be have less heat but more VVisdom than you VVhy will you be singular VVhy will you hazzard all for that others will hazzard nothing But certainly such sins as these will cost you dear 't is a dreadful thing to betray the Truths and Honour of God for base secular ends and you will find it so when you and your consciences shall debate it together in a calm hour Secondly There are also sins of Vnrighteousness against the Second Table in which many live against the plain dictates and warnings of their own Consciences though they know the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of men who hold the Truth in unrighteousness To give some Instances of this I. Instance And first let me Instance in that sin of Defrauding and going beyond others in our civil Commerce and Dealings with them over-reaching cozening and cheating the ignorant or unwary who it may be would not be so unwary as they are did they not repose trust and confidence in your deceitful words and promises Conscience cannot but startle at such sins the very Light of Nature discovers the evil of it and the sober Heathen abhor it but we that live under the Gospel cannot but feel some terror and trembling in our Consciences when we read such a severe and awful prohibition back'd with such a dreadful threatening as that is in 1 Thes. 4. 6. That no man defraud or go beyond his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the Avenger of all such The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that no man overtop viz. by power or by craft and policy To this sin a dreadful threatening is annexed the Lord is the Avenger of all such The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once more that I remember used in the New Testament Rom. 13. 4. and is there applied to the Civil Magistrate he must see Execution done upon Malefactors but here the Lord himself will do it he will be this mans Avenger This Rod or rather this Ax Conscience shews men and gives warning of the danger and yet its Convictions are overpowered and bound as Prisoners by 1. The Excessive Love of Gain 1 Tim. 6. 9. But they that will be rich fall into Temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition When a resolution is made for the world men will be rich by right or wrong this powerfully armes the Temptation Set Gain before such a man and he will break through the Law of God and convictions of Conscience but he will have it This drowns them in perdition and destruction that is it surely throughly and fully ruins them as he is a dead man that is only drowned but to be drowned in destruction yea in destruction and perdition too this must needs make his ruin sure as sure as words can make it and so all such persons shall surely find it who persist in such a Course 2. Pinching Necessities and Straights overbear Conscience in others Necessity hath no Ears to attend the voice of the Word and Conscience Here Conscience and Poverty struggle together and if the Fear of God be not exalted in the Soul it now falls a prey to Temptation This danger wise Agur foresaw and earnestly intreated the Lord for a competency to avoid the snare of Poverty Prov. 30. 8 9. Poor Wretch how much better were it for thee to endure the pains of a griping stomach than those of a griping Conscience such gains may be sweet in thy mouth but bitter in thy Bowels 3. The Examples of others who daily venture on such sins without scruple and laugh at such squeamish Consciences as cheque at such things this emboldens others to follow them Psal. 50. 18 and thus the voice of Conscience is drowned and Convictions buried for a time but it will Thunder at last and thy buried convictions wil have a Resurrection and it shall be out of thy power to silence them again II. Instance The truth of God is held in Unrighteousness when mens Lusts will not suffer them to restore what they have sinfully and unjustly gotten into their hands This Sin lies boking in the Consciences of some men makes them very uneasie and yet they make an hard shift to rub along under these regrets of Conscience Now those things which make a forcible entry into the Conscience take the truths of God Prisoners and bind them that they cannot break forth into the duty of Restitution are 1. The shame which attends and follows the duty to which God and Conscience calls the Soul. O 't is a shame and reproach they think to get the name of a cheat Loath loath they are these works of darkness should come into the open Light men will point and hiss at them and say there goes a Thief a Cheat an Oppressor this keeps many from Restitution But dost thou not here commit a greater Cheat than the former Which is the greater shame thinkst thou to commit sin or to confess and reform it to tye the snare upon thy soul by Commission or loose it off from thy Conscience by Repentance and Restitution to be the derision of wicked men for none else will deride thee for thy duty or to be the contempt and derision of God Angels and all good Men for ever To attain inward peace at this hazzard or to lie under the continual lashes and wounds of thy own Conscience 2. Poverty and inability is sometimes pleaded to quiet the troubled Conscience and indeed this is a just and very frequent blast of God upon ill gotten goods The curse of God is upon them They melt away O what a miserable snare have you now intangled your souls in once you could but would not restore a Worldly heart would not part with unjust gains now you would but cannot Thus a worldly heart and an empty purse holds you first and last under the guilt of a known sin A lamentable case 3. Vain purposes do often suppress and silence convictions my condition may after I may be in a capacity hereafter when I can better spare it than at present Or I 'le do it in my last Will when I dye and charge my Executors with it Thus do men bribe their Consciences to get a little quiet whilst they continue under known guilt and cannot tell how soon death shall summon them to the aweful Bar of a just and terrible God. Sirs As you value your peace and which is more your Souls release the Lords Prisoner which lyes bound within you with cords and chains of Satans making do it I say as you hope to see the face of God in peace You know without Repentance there can be no Salvation and without Restitution no Repentance For how can you repent of a sin you still knowingly continue in Repentance is the Souls turning from sin as well as its sorrow for sin You cannot therefore repent
Heart or bow the Will The hardest part of the Ministerial work is to preach Truths into the Hearts and Lives of Men. This makes the frequent inculcations of the same Truths necessary and safe to the peoples Souls Phil. 3. 1. To write the same things unto you to me indeed is not grievous but for you it is safe V. Inference How astonishing and wonderful is the Power and Strength of Sin which can hold Men fast after their Eyes are open'd to see the Misery and Danger it hath involved them in One would think if a mans eyes were but once opened to see the Moral Evil that is in sin and the Everlasting train of Paenal Evils that follow sin together with a way of escape from both it should be impossible to hold that sinner a day longer in such a state of Bondage the work were then as good as done but alass we are mistaken sin can hold those Men and Women fast that see all this They know it is an horrid violation of Gods just and holy Laws they know it brings them under his Wrath and Curse and will damn them to all Eternity if they continue in it They know Christ is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him and that he is as willing as he is able and yet no Arguments can prevail with them to part with sin Shew but a beast a flame of fire and you cannot drive him into it if he see any way to escape it Tell a man this is rank poyson and will kill you and you cannot make him swallow it though wrapt up in Sugar or put into the most pleasant Vehicle But let a sinner see death and destruction before him and sin can make him rush on as a horse into the battle Ier. 8. 6. He goes as an Oxe to the slaughter His heart is fully set in him to do evil Eccl. 8. 11. As one said when his Physitian told him If he followed such a course of sin he would in a little time lose his Eyes Then said he vale lumen amicum farewel sweet light I cannot part with this practise So t is with others rather than forego their pleasures and break their Customs in sin farewel Heaven Christ and all O the enchanting efficacy of Sin Ier. I8 11 12 And they said there is no hope but we will walk after our own devises When a man considers what Visions of Misery and Wrath Conviction gives Men he may wonder that all convinced men are not converted and on the otherside when he considers the strong hold sin hath gotten upon the hearts of sinners it may justly seem as great a wonder that any are converted VI. Inference How dreadful is the State and Case of Apostates who have had their eyes opened their Consciences awakened their Resolutions for Christ seemingly fixed and yet after all this return again to their former course of Sin. You see Brethren sin hath not only power to hold men in Bondage to its Lusts after their eyes have been open'd but it hath power to recover and fetch back those that seemed to have clean escaped out of its hands 2 Pet. 2. 18 19. The unclean Spirit may depart for a time and make his re-entry into the same soul with seven Spirits worse than himself Matth. 12. 43. Restraints by conviction and formality do not wholly dispossess Satan he still keeps his propriety in the Soul for he calls it my house and that propriety he keeps under all those Convictions and partial Reformations opens to him and all his Hellish retinue a door for his return But oh how doleful will the end of such Men be and how just is that Martial Law of Heaven that dooms the Apostate to Eternal Wrath Heb. 10. 38. Such are ' twice dead and will be pluckt up by the Root Iude 12. VII Inference To conclude this Use How sure and dreadful will be the condemnation of all those in the day of the Lord who obstinately persist and continue in sin under the Convictions and Condemnations of their own consciences Poor wretches you are condemned already Ioh. 3. 18. Condemned by the Law of God and by the sentence of your own Consciences What thy own Conscience saith according to Gods Law God will confirm and make it good 1 Ioh. 3. 20. If our hearts condemn w God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things His sentence will be as clear as it will be terrible for in the last Day the Books will be opened the book of Gods Omniscience and the book of thine own Conscience Now the book of Conscience is as it were a Transcript or Counterpart of Gods book for thee to keep in thine own bosom Now when Gods book and thy own book shall be compared and found exactly to agree there can be no farther dispute of the Equity of the account O when God shall charge thee saying thou knewest this and that to be sin and yet thy lusts hurried thee on to commit it Is it not so Look sinner into thine own book and see if thy Conscience have not so charged it to thy Account Thou knewest Prayer was thy duty when thou neglectedst it and over-reaching the lgnorant Credulous and Unwary was thy sin when the love of gain tempted thee to it You knew I had plainly told you Thest Uncleanness Drunkenness and Extortion would bar you out of the Kingdom of Christ and of God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. and yet putting that to the venture you have lived in those sins is it not so Examine the book in your own bosom and see The Lord make men sensible of coming Wrath for those sins they live in under light for the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against them II. VSE Is the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven a gainst all that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness Then let me exhort and perswade you by all the regard and love you have for your Souls by all the fears you have of the Incensed Wrath of the great and terrible God that you forthwith set your Convictions at Liberty and loose all the Lords Prisoners that lye bound within you because there is Wrath beware Iob 36. 18. O stifle the Voices of your own Consciences no more slight not the softest whisper or least intimation of Conscience reverence and obey its Voice Motives pressing and perswading this are many yet estimate them by weight rather than by number I. Motive The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against them that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness and because there is Wrath beware Are you truly informed what the Wrath of God is Who knoweth the power of thine anger according to thy fear so is thy wrath Psal. 90. v. 11. O if the Wrath of a King who in all his Glory is but a mortal Worm be as the roaring of a Lyon and as the Messengers of Death Prov. 20. 2. Prov. 16. 14. What then is the power of his Wrath at whose
will clear up the mistakes of both VII Motive Obedience to Convictions will not only produce peace at Death but it will give you present ease present relief and refreshment in hand No sooner did David resolve to obey the voice of his Conscience in confessing his sin but he had sensible ease in his own Spirit Psal. 32. 5. So Isa. 32. 17. the fruit of Righteousness is peace quietness and assurance for ever On the contrary you find in Iob 20. 20. Wicked Men have no quietness in their Bellies that is in their Consciences For Guilt lies boking there as a Thorn doth in the Flesh And what is Life worth without ease To live ever in pain to live upon the Rack is not worth while to live If then you love ease and quietness obey your Consciences Pull out that Thorn I mean that Sin that sticks fast in thy Soul and akes in thy Conscience Who would endure so much anguish for all the flattering pleasures of sin VIII Motive Convictions followed home and obeyed are the inlets to Christ and Eternal Salvation by him they are the first leading work of the Spirit in order to union with Christ Iohn 16. 8. till you obey and yield up your selves to them Christ is shut out of your Souls he knocks but finds no entrance at your peril therefore be obedient to their calls All the while you parly with your Convictions and demur to their demands Christ stands without offering himself graciously to you but not admitted so that no less than your Eternal Happiness or Misery depend on your Obedience or disobedience to the Voices and Calls of your Convictions IX Motive Obey your Convictions Honour their Voices and restrain them not then shall your Consciences give a fair testimony for you at the Judgment seat of Christ You read 1 Pet. 3. 2I Of the answer of a good Conscience towards God than which nothing can be more comfortable This gives a Man boldness in the day of Judgment 1 Iohn 4. 17. Believe it firs 't is not your Baptism your Church-priviledges the Opinion Men have of you but the testimony of your Consciences that must be your comfort I know Men are not justified at Gods Bar by you own Obedience nor any exactness of Life 't is only Christ's Righteousness that is the Sinners plea but yet your Obedience to the Calls and Voices of God and Conscience are your evidence that you are in Christ. X. Motive Lastly Consider what a choice Mercy it is to be under such Calls and Convictions of Conscience as are yet capable of being obeyed 'T is not so with Mens Convictions after this Life Conscience convinceth in Hell as well as here but all its Convictions there are for torment not recovery Oh 't is a choice Mercy your Convictions are yet Medicinal not purely Poenal that you are not malo obfirmati so fixed in the state of Sin and Misery as the damned are but may yet enjoy the saving benefit of your Convictions but this you will not enjoy long therefore I beseech you by all that is dear and valuable in your Eyes Reverence your Consciences and let go the Lords Prisoners that lye bound within you III. USE I next come to expotulate the matter with your Consciences and propound a few Convictive Queries to your Souls this day I cannot but look upon this Assembly with Fear Jealousie and Compassion I am afraid there be many of you in this wretched case Men and Women that hold the Truths of God in Unrighteousness though the Wrath of God be revealed from Heaven against all them that do so Let me Demand I. Demand Do not some of you stand convinced by your own Consciences this day that your Hearts and Lives your Principles and Practises are vastly different from the People of God among whom you live and whose Characters you read in Scripture Do not your own Consciences tell you that you never took that pains for your Salvation you see them dayly to take that there be some it may be in your Families nay possibly in your Bosoms that are serious and heavenly whilst you are vain and earthly that are in their Chambers upon their knees wrestling with God whilst you are in your Beds or about the things of the World And doth not Conscience sometimes whisper thus into thine Ear Soul thou art not right something is wanting to make thee a Christian Thou wantest that which others have and except something further be done upon thee thou wilt be undone for ever If it be so let me advise thee to hearken diligently to this voice of Conscience Don't dare to adventure to the Judgment-seat of God in such a case Ponder that Text Matth. 21. 32. and let the disparity your Conscience shews you betwixt your own course and others awaken you to more diligence and seriousness about your own Salvation How canâ—t thou come from the Alehouse or thy vain Recreations and find a Wife or Child in Prayer and thy Conscience not smite thee It may be they have been mourning for thy ' in s whilst thou haft been committing them It may be there lives not far from thee a Godly poor Man who out of his hard and pressing Labours redeems more time for his Soul in a week than ever thou didst in thy Life O hearken to the voice of thy Conscience Else thou art he that holdest Truth in Unrighteousness II. Demand Did thy Conscience never meet thee in the way of Sin as the Angel of the Lord met Balaam with a drawn Sword brandishing the threatnings of God against thee Did it not say to thee as a Captain once said to his Soldiers about to retreate he cast himself down in their way saying if you go this way you shall go over your Captain You shall trample him first under your feet Stop Soul stop said thy Conscience this and that Word of God is against thee If thou proceed thou must trample upon the Soveraign Authority of God in this or that Command yet thy impetuous Lusts have hurried thee forward Thou wouldst not fairly debate the case with thy Conscience and then did not thy Conscience say to thee as Ruben spake to his Brethren Gen. 42. 22. Spake I not unto you saying do not sin against the child but you would not hear therefore also his blood is required of you If this have been your course of sinning verily you are the persons that have held the Truths of God in Unrighteousness and against you the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven III. Demand Have you not seen the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven against other Sinners that have gone before you in the very same tract and course of sin in which you now go and yet you persist in it notwithstanding such dreadful Warnings Thus did Belteshazzar though he saw all that the God of Heaven had done to his Father Dan. 5. 20 21 22. You have seen great Estates scattered and their Owners that got
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Eph. 1. 3. The same person that thus blesses God with an Heart over-flowing with joy and comfort endured as many Persecutions felt as many wants and straighs as any man. What â—f Providence do but meanly cloath your Bodies so that you cannot ruffle it out in that splendor and gallantry others do yet mayst thou say with the Church I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my Soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth her self with Iewels Isa. 61. 10. What if thou fare not deliciously as the great ones of this World do yet if Christ will give thee to eat of the hidden manna which he promiseth Rev. 2. 17. Art thou not better clothed and fed than any of the Grandees or Nobles of the World This takes away all grounds of complaint it may be you will say O but we have Bodies as well as Souls if God had created us Angels that we could live without material food it were another case I reply Christ never thus intended to feast thy Soul and starve thy Body he that feeds thy Soul with bread from Heaven will take care for all necessary provisions on Earth Isa. 41. 17. You have sought and found the Kingdom of God and his righteousness fear not but all other things shall be added to you I. Vse for Information The Point before us is full of Uses I shall begin with Information in the following Inferences I. Inference Hence learn That it is a vile and groundless slander upon Religion to say or insinuate that it deprives men of the comfort and joy of life The Devil in design to discourage men from the ways of God puts a frightful mask upon the beautiful face of Religion pretending there is no pleasure or joy to be expected therein but this is abundantly confuted and refelled in the Text I will come in to him and sup with him Solomon tells us Eccles. 10. 19. A feast is made for laughter I am sure that Soul that sits with Christ at such a feast as hath been described above hath the best reason of any man in the World to be merry Religion indeed denies us all sinful pleasure but it abounds with all spiritual pleasure No rational solid mirth can come before Christ the unsanctified rejoyce in things of nought and their joy will be soon ended they are hastning to that place where they will find that to be verified of the wages of sin which they now falsely impute to the wages of holiness they shall never rejoyce more never be merry more But believers shall find that Scripture attested by their dayly experience Prov. 3. 17. All her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace And that there are such pleasures in the ways of God as they never experienced in the ways of sin for is it a solid ground of comfort to a man to be out of debt and all fears of arrests And is it not much greater to have our debts paid to God by Christ our Surety Matth. 9. 2. Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Is it matter of joy to have a sufficiency of all things for the supply of every want he that is in Christ hath so 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All are yours and ye are Christs Is it a joyful life to be a borderer upon Heaven to confine upon blessedness it self Then it is a joyful life to be in Christ for they that are so may rejoyce in the hopes of glory Rom. 5. 2. Is it matter of all joy to have the Comforter himself who is the Spirit of all Consolation taking up his residence in thy Heart cheering comforting and refreshing it with such Cordials as are unknown things in all the unbelieving World Then certainly the life of a Christian and the ways of holiness must be most pleasant and comfortable and therefore let none that are looking towards Christ be discouraged in their way by the slanderous reproaches designedly cast upon Religion for that end Christ and comfort dwell together II. Inference Hence in like manner it follows That Christians usually meet the greatest difficulties at their first entrance into Religion The first work of Religion is cutting work wounding work groaning and weeping work thus Religion usually begins Acts 2. 37. Acts 16. 29. Now the Soul seems to be struck dead in the giving up of all its former vain hopes Rom. 7. 9. When the commandment came sin revived and I dyed but afterward comes pardon peace joy in the Holy Ghost They that go forth weeping bearing precious seed now come back rejoycing bringing their sheaves with them Psal. 126. 6. Now that blessing takes place upon the Soul Matth. 5. 4. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be conforted Light is sowen for the righteous and joy for the upright in Heart 'T is quite contrary in the ways of sin all the pleasures of sin come first the terrors and gripes of Conscience come after Sin comes with smiles in its face but a sting in its tail Pleasures lead the van Hell and destruction bring up the rear Job 20. 12 13 14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his tongue yet his meat in his bowels is turned into the gall of Asps within him But here conviction and humiliation come first these prepare the way for Christ and after him comes rest and peace Their sorrow is turned into joy John 16. 120. But is this always true Do not the worst things of Religion many times come last How many Christians go out of the world in a bloody winding sheet Whatever the after-sufferings of Christians may be the worst is past when they are once in Christ. Great and sharp sufferings they may endure but the Lord sweetens them with answerable consolations 2 Cor. 7. 4. I am filled with comfort I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation The lowest ebbs are followed with the highest tydes the greatest troubles need not give an interruption to their peace III. Inference Thirdly Hence it follows that no man can be owner of any true comfort till he be in Christ. Comfort and refreshment in the natural order follow faith 't is the vainest imagination in the World to expect solid Spiritual comfort before union with Christ you may as well expect an harvest before a seed-time I do confess there are two sorts of comforts found in the World without Christ. 1. Men may have sensitive and sinful comforts and delights without Christ these are common in the unregenerate World where you may dayly see rich men taking comfort in their riches voluptuous men in their pleasures Iam. 5. 5. You have lived in pleasures upon Earth But these are the pleasures common to bruits and beneath the
noble immortal spirit of a Man. 2. Hypocrites have their delights and comforts in a false imaginary happiness which they fancy to themselves but this is a vanishing shadow they take comfort from their groundless hopes of Heaven whither they shall never come 't is a feast in a dream Isa. 44. 20. Thus they make a bridge of their own shadow and are drowned in the waters Such sensitive and false comforts and pleasures Men may have but no true solid scriptural joy takes place in any mans Heart before Christ come into it IV. Inference Guess from hence what Heaven is if there be such a feast to the Soul in the very foretasts of it If a relish a taste of Heaven in the earnest thereof be so transporting and ravishing what then is the full fruition of God! If these be unutterable what must that be Give me leave to say Whatever the comforts and joys of any believer in this World may be yet Heaven will be a surprize to him when he comes thither The joys of Gods presence are other manner of things than our present comforts are though these be of the same kind with them yet in a far inferiour degree There is a fix-fold difference betwixt the Spiritual comforts of believers on Earth and the joys that are above They differ 1. In Quantity 2. In Constancy 3. In Purity 4. In Efficacy 5. In the Society 6. In the Durability of them First They differ in quantity Here we know but in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. When the Scripture speaks of the comforts communicated to Saints on Earth it usually expresses them in some diminutive terms or other calling them first-fruits earnests and the like and indeed it is necessary we should receive them here with such alloys and in remiss degrees because the imperfection and weakness of our present state will not bear them in their plenitude and perfection Here the joy of the Lord enters into us but there we are said to enter into that joy Matth. 25. 21. 'T is too great to enter into us therefore we enter into and are swallowed up in it Secondly They differ in Constancy the best comforts upon Earth are found to be intermitting comforts a Sun-blast and a Cloud a good day and a bad you know houskeepers feed upon two sorts of meat dayly-bread and dainties rarities come not every day to the Table The dayly-bread upon which believers live is the recumbence and affiance of faith as for assurance and joy those come but now and then Thirdly They differ in Purity as well as Constancy here we have the comforts of the Spirit but we mingle sin with them and usually the sin of Spiritual pride which spoils all Yea many times the Lord suffers Satan to mingle his temptations and injections with them lest we should be exalted 2 Cor. 12. 7. But above the comforts of the Saints are as the pure water of life clear as Cristal Rev. 22. 1. Fourthly They differ in Efficacy as well as in Purity The highest comforts of the Spirit here are not perfectly transformative of our Souls into the image of God as they are in Heaven 1 Iohn 3. 3. We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Here after we are comforted by him we grieve the comforter himself by sin neither do the comforts of the Spirit in this state produce the fruits of obedience in their perfect maturity as they do above there is the same difference in in point of efficacy as there is betwixt the influence of the Sun beams in the winter-months and those in May and Iune Fifthly There is a great difference in respect of Society Here the believer for the most part eats his pleasant morsels alone one Christian eats and another hungers but in Heaven they all feast and feed together at one Table Matth. 8. 11. They shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. O what is it to rejoyce in the fellowship of Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles where the joy of one is the joy of all Sixthly They differ also in Durability sin here puts a stop to our comforts but in Heaven as there is no comma so there shall never be a full point or period Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads There 's an eternal feast no taking away the cloth no rising from that feast 2 Thes. 2. 16. 'T is everlasting consolation We shall be ever with the Lord. II. Vse This point puts serious matter of Exhortation into my mouth The Lord direct it to the Hearts of all whether they be in Christ or out of Christ. First To those that are out of Christ and will not yet be perswaded to open their Hearts and consent to his terms O what a spiritual infatuation is here What shut the door of thy Heart against Christ and all the delights and comforts of this and the coming World What madness is this Hear me thou poor deluded sinner that wilt not be perswaded to part with thy sinful sensual delights in exchange for Christ and the peace comfort and joy that follow him I have a few things to speak on Christs behalf at this time O that they might prevail O that by them the Spirit of the Lord might perswade thy Spirit thou poor unregenerate creature Let me offer four or five Considerations or Pleas on Christs behalf if haply they may prevail and make way for his entertainment in thy Soul. And I. Let me plead thine own necessity with thee a mighty argument which in other cases useth to make its way through all oppositions and make all difficulties fly before it thou art a poor necessitous pining famishing Soul however thy body be accommodated thou hast not one bit of spiritual bread for thy famishing Soul to live upon Christ is the bread that cometh down from Heaven the starving Prodigal Luke 15. v. 16 17. is the lively Emblem of thy Soul he fed upon husks and thou feedest upon that which is not bread Isa. 55. 2. Thou art wretched and miserable poor blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. Thy body hath often been fill'd and refresht with the good creatures of God but thy Soul never tasted one bit of spiritual bread since it came into thy body it never smackt the sweetness of a pardon the deliciousness of a promise the joy and comfort of Christ the choicest food that ever thou tastedsts was such as thy Soul cannot live upon II. Christ is at the door of thy Soul with plenty and variety of heavenly comforts costly dainties purchased by his blood if thou wilt but open to him Thou shalt be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house and drink the rivers of pleasure Psal. 36. 7 8. He that believeth as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water John 7. 38. meaning the graces and